Workstreams
 

The Electronics Leadership Council structure and the other strategic leadership bodies

In line with the EIGT recommendations, the ELC has formed four core workstreams to address the priority areas for support and development within the industry. These are:

  • Technology and Innovation

  • Skills and Education

  • Supply Chain

  • Public Procurement

In addition and in line with UK Government regional policy, the ELC will work closely with Regional Development Agencies and devolved administrations to communicate the importance of the electronics industry in the regions and engage with the industry. This work is led by Council member Neville Reyner.

Other strategic EIGT bodies

As well as the Electronics Leadership Council, the EIGT report also recommended the formation of two further strategic bodies to address the issues that they identified.

UK Electronics Alliance

The first of these strategic bodies is the UK Electronics Alliance (UKEA). This is a group of trade associations representing different parts of the electronics industry supply chain that have agreed to work together on common issues affecting their industry.

The EIGT report identified that the electronics sector was represented by at least 30 different organisations. In response they recommended that electronics industry stakeholders find a way of working more closely together in a way that would build and sustain trust across all parts of the industry and marshal activities in a more cohesive manner.

The Alliance’s main responsibilities will be to:

  • communicate to government in a co-ordinated manner the electronics industry’s needs;
  • help improve the UK’s electronics’ position in the global market through addressing competitiveness issues; and
  • co-ordinate representation with the Regional Development Agencies.

The UKEA’s Chairman, Derek Boyd, is also member of the Electronics Leadership Council.

Electronics Regulatory Group (ERG)

The second body that has been pulled together to help the sector is the Electronics Regulatory Group. The EIGT’s report calls for better understanding between Government and business of the individual and cumulative impact of regulation. They recommended that an Electronics Regulatory Group be established to take this forward.

This is now a BERR-led group comprising, as the report recommended, trade associations’ representatives and officials from the main regulatory departments within the Government that impact on the electronics sector. Their role is to foster a UK regulatory environment for the electronics industry that will facilitate growth and innovation, playing to UK strengths, promoting objective-based rather than prescriptive regulation, minimising unforeseen regulatory outputs, and ensuring electronics companies have the necessary information to seize strategic opportunities from regulation.

The Electronics Regulatory Group will be able to increase influence on regulation in a more coherent way.

Keith Hodgkinson, Director of the BERR's Electronics and IT Services Unit, and who is an observer on the Electronics Leadership Council, currently chairs the Regulatory Group.

A number of the presentations made to the ERG can be found on the Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network's EKTN) website under the "Knowledge" menu on their homepage.