Business News Round Up (27/05/2022)
North West mid-sized businesses champion true hybrid working, but adoption struggles remain
New research from Grant Thornton UK LLP’s latest Business Outlook Tracker* finds that, since the lifting of legal COVID-19 restrictions in February, just over half (51%) of the 604 mid-sized businesses surveyed have adopted a hybrid working approach. This is quite a significant dip compared to responses from the December 2021 round of the Tracker, when 88% of respondents surveyed were working in a hybrid way. The new findings show that hybrid working is offering many benefits to the 310 businesses who said they were adopting this approach. These benefits include boosting productivity (54%) and improving their people’s wellbeing (65%). Overall, just over half (51%) of those who have adopted a hybrid working approach find that it is working well in their business. This is a drop compared to December however, where 64% of those working this way believed it was working well, suggesting that struggles remain with adopting an effective approach. In fact, almost one in five (19%) of those currently adopting a hybrid working approach said that they’re struggling to implement it effectively.
Experts appointed to new board to deliver economic growth in Scotland
Experienced leaders from business, academia, third sector and trade unions have been brought together by the Scottish Government to help deliver economic growth in Scotland. The 12 experts, with professional experience of “delivering results” in their fields, have been appointed to the new delivery board promised in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. Economy secretary Kate Forbes will co-chair the group, alongside Barry White, who has held senior leadership roles in the private and public sectors including as a former chief executive of the Scottish Futures Trust. The board will work to implement the strategy, published in March, which identifies five key priority programmes as having the “greatest potential” to deliver economic growth. These are stimulating entrepreneurship, developing the modern skills needed for the decade ahead, opening new markets, increasing productivity, and ensuring “fairer and more equal” economic opportunities.
Views sought to boost the security of UK data centres and cloud services
The UK’s data infrastructure should improve its protections from cyber threats and disruption. The Government announced today it is seeking views on how to boost the security and resilience of the UK’s data centres and online cloud platforms. Views are sought on tools currently used in other regulated sectors, such as having an incident management plan in place, notifying a regulator when an incident impacts their services, and a requirement for a person board or committee to be held accountable for security and resilience. The UK’s data storage and processing infrastructure includes physical buildings housing large computer systems, which store and process huge volumes of data, as well as cloud platforms which provide remote, shareable computing services via the internet. New protections would build on existing safeguards for data infrastructure, including the Networks and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations 2018 which cover cloud computing services. The National Cyber Security Centre and Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure also regularly update guidance for data centres and their online assets.
New funding available to support growth of Scottish BioTech sector
Industrial biotechnology has been highlighted as a key sector for decarbonisation and the transition to net zero.New funding has been made available by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) to help grow Scotland’s BioTech economy with the latest tranche of its innovation fund now open for proposals. Awards of up to £100,000 will be made to support collaborative projects that can deliver measurable economic, societal, or environmental impact, using industrial biotechnology techniques to develop new processes and materials. Research teams must include partners from both academia and industry and demonstrate a clear route to market for the technologies and products being developed. Published in March, the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation highlighted industrial biotechnology as a key sector for decarbonisation and the transition to net zero, with opportunities for Scotland to become a world leader. The current call for projects is the sixth time IBioIC has awarded funding through its flagship innovation fund. Initiatives that have secured funding previously include a wide range of industrial biotechnology applications – from low-carbon construction materials made from bacteria to lithium-ion batteries derived from seaweed.