Christine Losecaat leaves UKTI as axe looms over public sector

Christine Losecaat has stood down from her position as creative industries specialist at UK Trade and Investment, where she had worked to promote the UK’s creative industries internationally.

Losecaat says her decision comes in advance of the Government’s November Spending Review, when it is expected to make significant cuts to the public sector.

“Removing myself from the equation”

“The Chancellor is cutting back on spending and I wanted to remove myself from the equation,” says Losecaat.

She says leaving has also been driven by a desire to work within the creative sector again, as she did prior to working with the UKTI, where she has been for ten years.

“I feel the time has come to spread my wings back into the creative sector itself, without the ever present challenge of conflicts of interest that come with the position of a specialist.

“Change within government”

“I have given the role all that I can over the years, and in this period of change within government it feels like a suitable and timely moment to step back full time into the commercial world of creativity and special projects.”

Losecaat has previously worked in new business roles and non-executive roles with design businesses.

She says: “I had to stop doing this at the UKTI though as it would have compromised my neutrality.

“I’d like to do special projects for organisations and companies and take on advisory roles within the creative sector, ideally those with international ambitions as that’s where my experience lies.”

Project director of the Huxley Summit

Losecaat has already taken on one role, as project director for The Huxley Summit, a new thought leadership event taking place next June with the aim of bringing science, creativity, economics and politics into the same conversation.

The Huxley Summit’s main ambition is “to put Science back into the heart of society and to reposition or reclaim Science in the UK in the way the creative services have done.”

Working with design consultancies

The event has not been branded so Losecaat says she may be looking to design consultancies for help with that and is also encouraging design consultancies to get in touch if they want help with non-exec roles.

Looking back on a decade in her role at the UKTI, Losecaat says: “I have had the pleasure of driving the delivery of some amazing and ground breaking initiatives to promote the UK’s creative and design sectors globally.”

These include the Creative Programme at Shanghai Expo, the British Business Embassy 2012, the China Design Task Force, the Creative HVO Taskforce, the GREAT Weeks, the UK’s award winning presence at Milan Expo, the recent China State Visit and, she says: “A number of progressively more challenging creative industries strategies just to name a few highlights.”

Exports still high on Government agenda

Losecaat says the “exports will still be high on the Government’s agenda as they drive exceptional growth” and she adds: “Design companies should keep scanning the horizon for opportunities globally, particularly in the Far East and the Middle East.”

Losecaat’s departure comes weeks after former design director at the Government Digital Service Ben Terrett and other directors at the organisation left to join the Co-operative.