Leader: Gordon's tonic for tech's tiddlers

You may have heard a lot this week about innovation. It was the subject of a major UK conference this publication attended and spoke at on Monday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in a somewhat higher profile event yesterday Chancellor Gordon Brown, among many other words, said the UK should become "the world's leading location for research-based, science-based and knowledge-based industries". Those things normally go hand in hand with innovation.

The trouble is that a lot of the time the most innovative suppliers out there barely get a look in. Sure, large providers can innovate. But small and medium-sized tech suppliers do so more often, we'd argue.

However, lots of innovation plus lack of sales doesn't normally equate to success. So how do we nurture the most delicate yet potentially most rewarding businesses out there?

A cheer to the Chancellor for extending research and development tax credits. There will be an industry consultation. Then it looks like this will lead to at least 2.5 per cent of public sector research money going to small and medium-sized businesses.

The mood in the IT industry, from all the official responses we've had pass our desks in the last 24 hours, seems to be the characteristic 'good but could do more'. And that sounds about right.

Looking to the US, established procurement laws that require a certain amount of public sector money to be spent with small suppliers give valuable assistance to small, innovative companies that will become tomorrow's champions.

Let us look to that example as a way forward. It's something that even tech big business can't get upset about. Can it?