A very interesting day yesterday included a meeting with David Willetts, a British Conservative MP with a shadow ministerial brief that includes Innovation and Universities.

We had a great opportunity to discuss the role of government in innovation networks, and the barriers to innovation in big public sector contracts, many of which are put up by the procurement process. We also touched on the gap between University Research and early-stage product development.

I was encouraged to see real thought being given to the problems SMEs face in this area, by someone who is likely to be in a position to do something about it in the near future.

The Obama administration faces similar challenges with its Healthcare plans. How do we prevent the current spend on Healthcare IT from running into the same trouble as the UK Connecting for Health initiative? How do we get real innovation from the small and medium partner community into the market?

Ythos have some experience of this, and it is not easy.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.