Small and medium-sized enterprises are being given the chance to engage with their bigger counterparts, along with education and governments, ‘to help drive policy reform, close the skills gap, and generate growth’, with the recent Westminster launch of The Enginuity Alliance, ‘a unique body structured to help British industry compete with the strictures and challenges ahead’.
The Alliance, created and driven by skills charity, Enginuity – known as the ‘sector connector’ – reportedly ‘unites all sides of the sector, for the benefit of all, by bringing together all interested parties striving to ensure prosperity for all’. John Parkes, Enginuity’s head of Charity, who is leading the Alliance said: “This is a momentous day, marking a new voice of all that makes British engineering and manufacturing great. So often SMEs – the very backbone of Britain – are overlooked, when there are moves to drive improvement, productivity, and growth.
“The Enginuity Alliance is a unifying force that gives a louder voice to the sector as a whole – and will engage with all parties, such as governments and education. As individuals, when speaking in isolation, we are in danger of sounding uncoordinated, disjointed, and at conflict. The Alliance will harmonise our voices and demonstrate that we are in vehement agreement.”
Sir Jim McDonald GBE, Chair of Enginuity, told the gathering of MPs and business leaders that the Alliance’s success would have ‘real live consequences on delivering increased growth, productivity and prosperity for all’. He said: “The industry is undergoing a transformation toward automation, artificial intelligence, and digitalisation. These are all systemic and complex challenges and no one organisation can solve them. That is why we must work together as a movement for change. Enginuity is uniquely positioned, as a charity, to act as the sector connector through the Alliance, to bring together solutions and those that need them most.”
Enginuity says it is already delivering a raft of ‘impact projects’ across the sector, such as helping prepare car manufacturers such as Ford, JLR, and Aston Martin, for the transition to electric vehicles.
Pictured, left to right, at the launch are John Parkes, Mike Reader MP, Sir Jim McDonald, and Enginuity CEO, Ann Watson.