The UK now has the emergent institutional infrastructures to move from a low-skills/low-tech equilibrium to a high-skills/high-tech economy. Given the rapidity and strength of the competitive challenges globalisation is bringing, the case for this is unanswerable. However, much political and institutional will is required to ensure that the UK along with the rest of the European Union becomes a dynamic knowledge economy in the future. The re-focused Lisbon Strategy offers a useful way to achieve these goals. The UK, which initiated Lisbon both in its own interests and those of the EU, should take the lead.