Good morning: Greg Clark, the business secretary, will launch his long-awaited plan to boost UK industry today amid weak productivity growth and uncertainty in advance of Brexit. Alongside proposals to improve skills and infrastructure the government’s industrial strategy is expected to identify “grand challenges”, including artificial intelligence, low carbon technologies and driverless cars. Mr Clark is expected to say that “business, academia and civil society” must work and engage with the government to “innovate, develop new technologies and strategies to seize these global opportunities”. In advance of today’s announcement the US drugs company Merck has outlined plans to open a £700 million research facility that will create 1,000 jobs. Mr Clark has hailed the investment as an endorsement of his efforts to foster closer co-operation…

Source: The Times November 27, 2017 09:00 UTC