Jürgen Maier has called the Government's decision to axe its industrial strategy a "mistake" as the former CEO of Siemens joined a growing list of prominent figures to speak out over the news.
Mr Maier, who is co-chair of the Made Smarter programme, a movement helping North West SMEs join the Industry 4.0 revolution, said while he was "optimistic" for the future of 海角视频 manufacturing and the flagship project, he had concerns over the move announced last week by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
On March 4, it was revealed that Mr Kwarteng would scrap a committee of business leaders appointed to help advise the Government on plans to deliver aims of its industrial strategy in a bid to create better conditions for firms- which was only launched in 2017.
It's a decision that has since been criticised by individuals including Labour's shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband, who said the move had caused "consternation". Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, called it a "sad and bad" decision.
Speaking at the virtual Made Smarter Conference, which took place on Wednesday, Mr Maier, who left Siemens last year, appeared to agree with Mr Miliband.
He said: "I'm going to be open about saying that I think it was a mistake to scrap it the way it's been scrapped and communicated, without having the subsequent plan looking more industrial.
"But I am optimistic, having spoken to the Secretary of State and us as an industry, working hard that we would make the new road plan look much more industrial as we go forward.
"We've had that conversation with the secretary of state. I think we will put Made Smarter fairly and squarely within it. And we had the secretary of state at our conference this morning, committing his support for Made Smarter."
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Speaking about the future of the Made Smarter scheme, which in December said it had created 750 jobs from over £12m investment for the North West, he added: "I think the task ahead now is to make sure that Made Smarter fourth industrial revolution is firmly and squarely as part of the new growth plan so that - okay, it's not called an industrial strategy, it's called a growth plan with a strong industrial and technology focus.
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"I think we'll work towards that and make that work."
Following Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Budget announcement last week, Mr Kwarteng wrote to all 16 members of the council, which includes business figures from firms including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Emma Bridgewater. His letter said the Government had “decided to mark a departure from the industrial strategy brand”.
It's not yet known whether the strategy will be scrapped entirely or rebranded with a new name.
On Tuesday, Mr Miliband tweeted to say: "The Business Secretary's decision to axe the Government's industrial strategy has caused consternation. He cannot deliver the partnership between business and Government our country needs because he doesn't believe in it."
Also at the event on Wednesday was Matt Ellis assistant director of Made Smarter for the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
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When asked to explain the Government's thinking behind the decision, he said: "A huge amount has changed since 2017, and the previous industrial strategy.
"But the plan to 'build back better' really is designed to take the best of the industrial strategy forward, and so this isn't the industrial strategy disappearing, this is a kind of refocusing."
Referring specifically to the Made Smarter scheme, he said: "We are doing something where there's evidence that is showing this has a really strong impact in the work that we're doing in the North West and the work on innovation.
"The support for that through the spending review, and the additional funding that we've secured to scale up support in the North East, in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber indicates that manufacturing digitalization is a huge priority for the Government, and that's something that we're going to keep fighting the fight on."