The 2017 edition of the Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends survey found that business leaders in the UK acknowledge the challenge to commercialise innovation inputs and hence benefit from the associated productivity gains. Only 16 per cent of UK business leaders surveyed considered themselves ready to exploit innovative technologies like robotics, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence. This was lower than both the Global and West Europe average. In contrast, business leaders in rapidly emerging economies were most likely to consider themselves ready to implement innovation.

There are many reasons that might contribute to UK business’s sluggish adoption of innovative technology, including a ready supply of cheap labour (which reduces the pressure to invest in automaton), institutional risk aversion and access to capital.

“Working with innovative technology is obviously an investment in time and resources for a corporate. It might also fail. This is an unacceptable risk for many corporates, who do everything they can to eliminate uncertainty and protect their reputation. To innovate successfully will mean failing sometime. To simply eliminate risk will result in institutional atrophy and a decline in competitiveness.” Alex Dunsdon, Co-founder of The Bakery.