Tag Archives: Policy Critique

The Grant Delusion: Why Government Should Commission, Not Compete, in UK Innovation

David Richards MBE is right, the UK’s innovation economy has become addicted to grants, not growth. But the problem isn’t funding itself; it’s design. Innovate UK and its peers were meant to bridge the early-stage gap between research and market, but instead became destinations in their own right. Government now competes with, rather than commissions, the innovators it should empower. The fix is simple: commission outcomes, not applications; fund practitioners, not paperwork.

Continue reading

UK Cyber at a Crossroads: Three Essays on Policy, Practice, and Growth, in Reaction to the 2025 Cyber Growth Action Plan

The UK’s cyber policy has made progress but suffers from churn, overlap, and regional imbalance. The 2025 Cyber Policy sets out ambition but lacks continuity and practitioner voice. This three-part series traces the history, critiques the new policy, and argues for a practitioner-led, regionally balanced ecosystem to stabilise the base finally.

Continue reading

Reviewing the 2025 UK Cyber Growth Action Plan: Promise, Blind Spots, and the Challenge of Continuity

This article, written in reaction to the DSIT Cyber Growth Action Plan 2025, reviews and critiques the government’s new approach. It recognises what the policy gets right — framing resilience as growth, creating safe havens, and calling for a one-team response — but also highlights what is missing: metrics, continuity, practitioner voice, and regional balance. Without these, the new policy risks becoming rhetoric rather than a platform for real progress. Unless the UK moves decisively from aspiration to delivery, the 2025 Cyber Growth Action Plan will join its predecessors as another missed opportunity.

Continue reading