SMEs in the UK need more help, according to a new study.
The Developing the Future 2007 report found that British SMEs suffered from a lack of government funding, in comparison to their US counterparts.
Tom Will-Sandford described this as a transatlantic innovation divide, rendering the UK less able to produce successful start-ups than the US's Silicon Valley.
This has resulted in "clusters of excellence", prompting the need for a government strategy to assist start-ups and SMEs.
In the US, 23 per cent of federal contracts must go to SMEs, along with 40 per cent of subcontracts.
According to Silion.com, if the UK government did this, it would inject £8 billion into SMEs.
Mark O'Neill, chief information officer at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said that the technology "doubtless sitting on someone's desk in Silicon Valley" could be put to good use in the UK if the public and private sectors combined their IT strategies.
