Welcome to the Make Your Mark campaign’s Enterprise Insights where only the most interesting enterprise developments and stories are delivered to you fortnightly.

Building Britain's future

Jobs of the Future (Cabinet Office – pdf: 750 KB)

Employment priorities recovering from the recession will need to focus on pursuing new global economies, including low carbon, advanced manufacturing, life sciences and digital, according to a new Government strategy paper. The paper, which outlines the Government’s commitment to increasing the skills and support needed for our new economy, highlights initiatives such as the Backing Young Britain campaign (supported by Make Your Mark) and the new Future Jobs Fund, that will encourage employment and growth in these key sectors.

Creating enterprising places

Backing UK tourism: Destination recovery (British Chambers of Commerce – pdf: 1.83MB)

The UK is the second worst EU country for attracting tourism spending (relative to our own tourism spending in other countries), despite almost a tenth of UK GDP being generated from tourism, a report by the British Chambers of Commerce has found. The report concludes that reforms should be made to increase the effectiveness of policies encouraging tourism.

Real-world education and skills

Education at a Glance (OECD – pdf: 170KB)

A 50% increase in education spending over the past decade has raised the UK’s education performance compared to other major economies, a major annual study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows. Commenting on the report, Higher Education Minister David Lammy said that whilst the findings were encouraging, ‘there is more to do [in] preparing Britain for the upturn and beyond’.

Driving up innovation in businesses

The grey economy: How third age entrepreneurs are contributing to growth (NESTA – pdf: 1MB)

The most successful high-growth firms are those that start with a founding team combining youth and experience, according to a report on the contribution of over 50 entrepreneurs by Ron Botham and Andrew Graves for the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. Older entrepreneurs are most often driven by the opportunity to work beyond the official retirement age, the challenge of starting a business and a desire to give something back to society, analysis of over 200 firms suggests. The report also found that older entrepreneurs were less likely than young people to ask for advice when starting a business, despite being more likely to cite business plan writing and understanding regulation as their main barrier to starting up.

In the media

The recession is over, suggests a survey of business owners’ confidence by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (ICAEW). Check out our interview with the Head of Enterprise at ICAEW, Clive Lewis, in the next edition of Enterprise Insights!

The British Chamber of Commerce meanwhile have predicted that the economy will start to grow again in the near future, with a moderate 1.1% growth in GDP in 2010, although unemployment may continue to rise.

Being an entrepreneur is the second most popular career aspiration for boys – beating the dream of being a pilot or rock star, according to a survey by the Careers Advice Service. Girls were less likely to want to go into business, although this still featured in their top five career choices.