The government has said it is going to invest £17 million in university research on robotics and artificial intelligence (HERE) and no doubt some MPs will think this is a good thing - which of course it is. The Business Secretary is also quoted as saying, “Investment in robotics and artificial intelligence will help make our economy more competitive, build on our world-leading reputation in these cutting-edge sectors and help us create new products, develop more innovative services and establish better ways of doing business”.
However, when one looks at the reality our “world-leading reputation” does not look quite so good. The International Federation of Robotics summarises the global robotics market in 2015 in this executive summary HERE.
In 2015 the total global sales of industrial robots was 253,747 an increase of 15% over the previous year. China led the way with 68,600 units. Korea installed 38,300. Japan wasn’t far behind with 35,000. The USA was fourth with 27,504. Germany seemed almost a laggard with a mere 20,105.
Where are we, with our "world-leading" reputation? We managed just 1,645 or 0.6%. Italy installed 6,700, Spain 3,800 and France 3,045. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that some Brexiteers think we are going to stride out and trade globally when they are told we are “world-leading”. Remember, many of the 252,105 robots that were NOT sold here in 2015 will be producing things overseas that we will be importing. Also, this has been going on for a very long time.
In terms of general industrial robots (excluding the automotive industry) the density of robots per 10,000 employees is also shocking. Korea leads with 411, Japan 213, Germany 170 and even Sweden has 154. How many do we have? The stunning answer is 33. We are just a quarter of the number in Italy (126) and a third of Austria’s (95). Globally, emerging markets on average have about 30 so we are just above emerging market level – emerging market being a euphemism for third world.
I do not believe we cannot become world-leading, only that it is better to learn to swim before suggesting you're about to attempt The Channel! If we realise where we are, put in the effort and resources steadily for two or three decades we might just do it. A one-off fund of £17 million is nowhere near enough.
