This week in my local letter to newspapers across London I wanted to write about my involvement with TechUK’s Brexit Advisory Panel. I see this as an important role in helping London’s exciting tech sector navigate the maze of Brexit. Among those publishing my letter …….

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—————BEGINS—————

I am so proud to be helping our tech sector approach Brexit

Our great city rightly has a reputation as a world-leading hub for technical innovation and digital entrepreneurship.

What the London tech sector may not be on the scale of Silicon Valley, in terms of sheer inventiveness, creativity and an ability to turn bright ideas into working, profitable products or services, it is still amazing.

I am a huge fan of our country’s tech companies and our tech professionals. I was once told that if the tech sector had been asked to fix the European Union, they might well have suggested re-booting it.

Sadly that was not an option, but I do hope the voice of our tech sector will be heard as our future outside the EU takes shape.

With that in mind, I was very pleased to be asked by the trade body, techUK, to become a member of its Independent Brexit Advisory Panel.

The panel will work independently of techUK and is formed, as they say, of leading experts across different disciplines including economics, politics, international relations, diplomacy, higher education, venture capital.

Other members include former Cabinet Secretary Lord Gus O’Donnell, economist Vicky Pryce and former European Commission digital guru Robert Madelin.

We are all giving our time free and will offer informal but well-informed advice on how the UK should navigate the Brexit process while ensuring we remain at the forefront of innovation and harnessing the power of technology.

We will help shape techUK’s Brexit priorities and advise its board about Government thinking on key areas such as:

# Asking the right questions about the opportunities and impact of leaving the EU and approaches to renegotiation for the UK tech sector.

#Analysing and optimising the issues of most strategic importance to the future of the UK digital economy.

# Applying sustained influence to institutions and individuals, in Whitehall, Westminster, Brussels and beyond.

Quite a task, but one worth taking on.

I have been excited about tech since writing code for my ZX Spectrum and then writing machine code at university. London’s start-up community is vibrant, exciting and dynamic, and it must stay that way.

Of course there will be challenges but by getting Brexit right, we will be able to keep the doors open to the best global tech talent and create more jobs, prosperity and opportunities in our city.

A key question will be how those tech firms that do business in other EU countries can continue to enjoy the greatest possible access to other EU countries, under a deal while respecting the result of last year’s referendum.

For example, we will need to look at whether companies offering services in the EU will be required to have their data servers physically sited within the EU if they are to carry EU data and sited within the UK to carry UK data.

We will need to consider how we can maximise the flexibility that enables our tech sector to continue to attract customers and talent from all over the world?

On skills, we need to ensure we continue to create our own pool of domestic talent while remaining open to attract the brightest and the best in this sector from across the world, no longer discríminating against those from outside the EU.

As well as the opportunities, these are legitimate concerns for the sector and for London. techUK hopes that we will play our part in ensuring our negotiators do not overlook these concerns when the fine detail of any deal begins to be aid down.

And of course London’s tech firms will always have one rather potent card up their sleeve. Their ability to innovate.

If ever the politicians, economists and mandarins are struggling to find a solution to a particular problem, my money will be on the tech folk to come up with it.

If and when someone in Brussels or London says “That would be impossible,” I expect a tech entrepreneur in Shoreditch to say: “Have you tried this?” A tech solution making what some may have deemed impossible … possible.

Syed Kamall
MEP for London
Leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group
www.syedkamall.com

 

 

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