What evidence exists relating to company level growth due to increased technology adoption, and what are the implications of technological advancements, for example automation and AI, for trade patterns and employment?

Background

DBT is committed to driving a mission-led Industrial Strategy that empowers businesses, including SMEs, to invest, grow and thrive. To do this, we must continually ensure we know which factors support or hinder growth. A sector-specific approach will enable us to apply evidence-based lessons effectively, fostering innovation and scaling-up across priority sectors.

The topics covered in this theme relate to enabling government to seize the most significant opportunities and create the most favourable conditions in the UK to support companies to emerge, grow, and thrive here. We have included questions that pertain to the Industrial Strategy sectors (the IS-8), clear and achievable regulation for safety and success, and productivity and efficiency.

The Industrial Strategy Advisory Council (ISAC) is an independent body responsible for reviewing the Industrial Strategy and making recommendations for improvements based on high quality research and evidence. ISAC plan to publish a list of ARIs in 2026. DBT will continue engaging with ISAC going forward.

It is important to continually ensure we have the best understanding of local and overseas markets and how they contribute to UK economic growth. This includes, but is not limited to, measuring impact of trade agreements, mapping trajectories and predicting evolution of trends and outcomes. For businesses to make the best decisions about investment, across various sectors and demographics, we must understand:
- the steps in decision-making processes
- drivers shaping the market and market dynamism
- enablers and barriers for technology adoption that can impact productivity and growth procurement and its impact
- how regulatory policy can enable the channels that lead to success

Increases in technology adoption and diffusion is central to our work, and we seek evidence on how artificial intelligence (AI), automation and digitisation can accelerate productivity and competitiveness.
The ability to make the UK a great place to do business includes:
- tackling high industrial electricity costs
- promoting fair and free trade
- expanding access to finance
- capitalising on the value of UK data

Next steps

https://submit.forms.service.gov.uk/form/262425/register-your-interest-in-collaborating-with-dbt-as-an-external-researcher/3UvUKFHb

Topics

No topics assigned yet

Research fields

No research fields assigned yet

Related UKRI funded projects


  • Mapping the production, diffusion and drivers of future technologies

    We propose to map and track the state of technological change in the UK, understand its drivers, impacts and help to improve the UK's productivity record via our collaboration and engagement with industry and policymaker...

    Funded by: SPF

    Lead research organisation: University of Warwick

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on mapping technological change, drivers, impacts, and productivity in the UK, including AI and future technologies.

  • ESRC RCUK Innovation Fellowships

    As outlined in the Government's White Paper on the Industrial Strategy, and its Digital Strategy, the world is becoming increasingly digitalised, and digital connectivity has rapidly become an essential requirement for t...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: London School of Economics and Political Science

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project investigates technology-driven growth in the UK, covering areas such as prices, wages, productivity, and international comparisons.

  • Queen's University Belfast NISRA BDR Programme

    The Northern Irish economy has low productivity, present even prior to the troubles encountered from the late 1960s (Hitchens and Birnie, 1989). To solve this historical underperformance, numerous policies have been impl...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: Queen's University Belfast

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on how digitalization affects the NI economy, productivity, employment dynamics, and supports the 10x vision.

  • Business Model Innovation for Intelligent Automation: Unpacking the Productivity Paradox

    Productivity growth has been slowing down in the last decade in major economies as well as in emerging markets despite the prevalence of digital technologies. This phenomenon is widely known as the productivity paradox. ...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Cambridge

  • Supporting the Business Response to COVID-19: Survey on Technology Adoption

    This research project builds the evidence base on technology adoption, and examines how government can best support businesses, in particular small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), in the UK at a time of crisis. Work...

    Funded by: COVID

    Lead research organisation: London School of Economics and Political Science

  • Enterprise Research Centre - Phase 3

    The UK faces significant economic uncertainties. Brexit will bring new challenges and opportunities, alongside the continuing productivity gap and persistent trade deficit. At the same time, global trends related to Indu...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Warwick

  • The Performance of Manufacturing: The UK in Comparison with Europe

    There are two scientific goals of the fellow's project; first, it will overcome the problems associated with a single-country perspective, predominantly found in the existing literature on technological and non-technolog...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Leeds

  • BEIS Secondment to ISC 2020: Market Structures and the Industrial Strategy

    PROPOSED SECONDMENT ACTIVITIES Activities and justification: - Provide expertise in industrial organization and macroeconomics to aid the BEIS Industrial Strategy Council research team. - Develop academic research towa...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Kent

  • Network Plus: Industrial Systems in the Digital Age

    Industry and Manufacturing are changing with the advent of smart digital, autonomous and intelligent technologies. Values for manufacturers are changing from production to technological knowhow and design; ownership mode...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Nottingham

  • Up-Skilling for Industry 5.0 Roll-Out

    The 4th Industrial Revolution/Industry 4.0 has enabled reduction of production costs, improved consistency of product quality and enabled mass customisation by merging the physical and digital worlds. The transition is s...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: FORD MOTOR COMPANY LIMITED