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BCS reaction to the EU referendum result

The result of the referendum on UK membership of the European Union will have significant long term implications for the UK, says BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, whose purpose is to make IT good for society.

This is the start of a long process for the country. For BCS, it is the beginning of a dialogue, led by members, but facing towards our society, to develop a shared vision for the UK’s digital future outside the European Union.

Paul Fletcher, Group CEO commented: “This morning we start a process of huge national significance, against a backdrop of uncertainty. It’s important for BCS as a Chartered organisation to show leadership and foster debate in how we can make the most of that process. Our members together have an important role in creating a digitally successful, prosperous and thriving UK.”

BCS will now set out plans for that dialogue amongst its members, organisations, and civil society.

David Evans, Director of Policy & Community commented: “We’ll be talking to people across government - but especially in the first instance the Department for Business and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport - about what needs to be done and how we can help. We are already working on several projects around some of the key areas for negotiation - such as personal data regulation - and we have an important role to play as a community of people who want to make IT good for society and have understanding, capability, insight and creativity into the complex technical, commercial, legal and social issues.”

“Our starting point is that the UK must be a leading nation for digital innovation, with citizens at the heart of our approach, and very much open to international business. To support this we need to ensure that the relationship we have with the EU is right around personal data and access to markets.

“It is absolutely essential that we support and grow our academic base in computing, foster industrial collaboration, and send a message out to the international academic computing community that we want to increase collaboration.

“We must apply a sophisticated view of digital talent to our negotiations with the EU, recognising that IT is a global sector and profession, and that we need to grow and attract the best talent into the UK digital domain. Getting this right means creating an environment that is incredibly attractive to global digital business, a fantastic place to start a technology business, and a great place to live. Despite uncertainty, we need to establish, promote and act on that vision to give our international partners and UK business the confidence to plan now.”

For further information read David Evans' blog post

 

Channel website: http://www.bcs.org/

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