Industry ministers plan to pressurise deputy prime minister John Prescott to take the needs of high-technology growth zones into account when deciding future infrastructure spending plans.
The department of trade and industry (DTI) is keen that everything is done to encourage high-tech clusters. A white paper in the new year on the knowledge-based economy will home in on ways of spreading innovation to poorer regions.
Britain has 70 business clusters, including biotechnology around Cambridge, chemicals in Middlesbrough and motor sport in Oxfordshire, according to new DTI research. It suggests government has a role in removing barriers to growth even though it cannot create new clusters.
Financial Times 27/12/00 page 3 (Inside: Business)
