P - WERING THE SUPERPOWER - UPGRADING THE UK’S INDUSTRIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

And while the political debate is often on the need for more housing, the need for the industrial infrastructure, including data centres, that provides the jobs for the people that live in them and underpins the economy is often not given the profile it deserves. [...] The recommendations set out in this report provide the framework for this to be implemented and we look forward to working with policymakers to help unlock the growth of the sector and deliver the ambition of making Britain a science and technology superpower by 2030. [...] The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2019, before the pandemic, found that the UK was ranked 36th in the world for the quality of our road infrastructure, 36th for the efficiency of our air transport, 31st for the efficiency of our railways and 46th for the quality of our electricity supply.3 Unfortunately, there are no global statistics to compare the state of the UK’s buildin. [...] According to the World Bank the United Kingdom is the sixth largest economy, with the 4th highest GDP per capita of the G7 of developed democratic economies.7,8 The UK has attained this through being at the forefront of the invention, development and adoption of new technologies. [...] The exception to the rule was the general improvement that was seen during the pandemic, where the government recognised the value of the sector and put in place appropriate channels of communication.