'Brexit will significantly impact the UK economy. We must put in place the human resources and infrastructure to minimise the damage as much as possible while exploring new opportunities', said Prof Chris Pitelis, Head of Brunel Business School and BiE member, to national television in Greece, adding that 'ultimately national governments must ask themselves how the benefits of globalisation and open markets will be more fairly distributed to all citizens' (to avoid phenomena like Brexit).
He was reflecting on the conclusions of a conference organised by the Centre for International Business and Management (CIBAM) (where he is the director), at Queens' College, Cambridge, in July, on Business and Brexit, and the business of Brexit, which brought together business experts, economists, third sector experts and academic scholars from a range of disciplines.
Vicky Pryce, Economist and former Joint Head of the United Kingdom's Government Economic Service, told ANT1 TVs' Issaak Karipidis, that the 'UK economy is slowing down, quite significantly, because of all the uncertainty. Nobody really knows where it will be by the time the UK leaves, and what sort of plan the Government has'.
Business experts participating at the conference expressed concern about the impact of 'hard Brexit', tariffs and the prospect of 'no deal' at the end of the negotiating period. 'No deal is a very bad deal', the conference concluded.
David Bailey, Prof of Inudstrial Strategy at Aston Business School, analysed Brexit's potential impact upon the very successful UK automotive industry, noting that 'we need single market or, at least, custom's union' to protect it from Brexit.
Dr Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, Associate Dean and director of 'Britain in Europe' (BiE), was an invited speaker at the conference. His paper addressed the question of academic, research-based, engagement with 'the business of Brexit'. He took BiE's work on EU citizens' rights after Brexit as an illustration of how collaborations of academic scholars, legal experts and the third sector can influence important debates around the protection of individual rights threatened by Brexit.
Prof Geoff Rodgers, Deputy VC for Research and Innovation at Brunel, offered the concluding observations at the conference, and later commented on Greek TV: 'Brexit will be a challenge for UK Universities. We will want to continue to attract high quality students from across Europe to come study in the UK'. Despite the challenges, 'there are inherent strengths in UK Universities which can make us optimistic about the future'.
