Something has been nagging at me.

I have been inherently lazy in my discussions about State Aid and Brexit.

The gist of my tweets - and those of many others - is "ha ha, you think this UK Government could pick a tech winner? Dream on!"
Now that may not be wrong. But it is not enough. It is not adequate.

I& #39;d like to unpack this a little, and I& #39;d like my followers to help unpack it too.
Let us assume for a moment that the UK wanting greater control on State Aid is not for malevolent purposes, and the idea that the UK could be a world leader in AI or biotech or other tech sectors is a noble aim, and that *government intervention* could help towards this end.
The leads to two logical further questions:
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1"> Are there cases in other countries where state backing of tech industries worked, and these could serve as a model for the UK?
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="2️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 2" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 2"> If so, is there anything in EU State Aid rules that would stop the UK answering question https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1">
I don& #39;t think either the USA or China help us answer question https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1"> - the UK does not have the USA& #39;s military-industrial complex that was at the root of a lot of what Silicon Valley did at the start. And the UK will not emulate China& #39;s surveillance-authoritarian-capitalist model.
So what else is there? Are there examples of medium sized countries that have - through state intervention - done something right in this regard? South Korea (but Samsung, Daewoo, LG...?), Taiwan, perhaps the Nordics? Canada?
And then to https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="2️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 2" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 2"> - the UK has traditionally been much more reluctant to use State Aid than plenty of other EU countries, where it is mostly used to help declining industries to restructure - and the EU& #39;s State Aid regime has been flexible enough to allow this.
I& #39;d value thoughts from @DavidHenigUK @SamuelMarcLowe @GeorgePeretzQC about issues raised in this thread - is there some "Would what they& #39;re trying to do even work?" piece somewhere that can explain this in a way that doesn& #39;t just assume Number 10 is lazy or malevolent?

/ends
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