LinkedIn partners with Number 10 to banish the bureaucracy stifling business pioneers

LONDON, UK. — 25th JANUARY 2012 — LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network with more than 135 million members worldwide, today announced its support of a  Government initiative to promote new enterprise in the UK by reducing the burden of regulation. As part of the ‘Red Tape Challenge’ campaign launched by the Prime Minister , a “Red Tape Challenge” LinkedIn Group went live today to enable the UK business community to connect and participate in the discussion about regulations that are holding back innovative new businesses.

LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network with more than 135 million members worldwide, today announced its support of a  Government initiative to promote new enterprise in the UK by reducing the burden of regulation. As part of the ‘Red Tape Challenge’ campaign launched by the Prime Minister , a “Red Tape Challenge” LinkedIn Group went live today to enable the UK business community to connect and participate in the discussion about regulations that are holding back innovative new businesses.

LinkedIn will host the discussion on the Government’s Red Tape Challenge theme on what rules and regulations need to be scrapped or improved to help innovative new businesses grow and succeed. Many new business models - particularly those that involve doing things differently, often enabled by new technologies - may fall foul of regulations that were intended for another age or for another purpose entirely. Prime Minister David Cameron, who feels that unnecessary, overcomplicated regulation strangles businesses, is expecting to hear from entrepreneurs, investors and business owners via the LinkedIn Group.

To kick-start LinkedIn’s involvement in the campaign, Number 10 launched a LinkedIn Poll earlier this week to survey the UK business community about the burden of regulation in the UK. The results showed that a staggering 75 percent of those who participated believe red tape presents a major problem to fostering greater innovation in their business. Faced with a worsening economic forecast for the UK in 2012, Number 10 believes these findings make the need for consultation and discussion between the Government and British businesses and business leaders all the more pressing.

“We were delighted to have been approached by Number 10 to participate in the ‘Red Tape Challenge’ campaign and are excited to watch the discussion unfold on LinkedIn,” commented Ariel Eckstein, MD, LinkedIn EMEA. “When the Prime Minister joined LinkedIn late last year, it was seen as an endorsement of our mission to help people do business better. This recent campaign is a further nod to the power of the UK business community on LinkedIn.”

Through the Red Tape Challenge, and via the LinkedIn Group, members are invited to give their views, comments and ideas on what regulations should stay, be improved, or be scrapped altogether. Once the public have made their comments, Ministers have three months to decide which regulations they want to remove or improve and which they want to keep.

In a guest blog posted on LinkedIn today, David Cameron said: “I am determined that this Government will leave office having reduced the overall burden of regulation. But we need you, the people trying to navigate the regulatory landscape, to tell us exactly what we need to change.

“Outdated regulation is holding back our most innovative entrepreneurs. That is why we are expanding the Red Tape Challenge to examine, not only the regulation which affects the businesses of today, but also the businesses of tomorrow.

“I want to make sure we are hearing from as many people as possible. Please, join the conversation and help the UK do business better.”

Launched in August 2009, Groups are an essential part of the LinkedIn professional networking platform. Groups allows any member to create an open forum around a specific subject or profession where users can comment and share insights and knowledge. Currently, there are more than one million LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Polls allows members to easily pose questions to your network and quickly curate responses to market research questions.

Press contacts
Darain Faraz
LinkedIn
press@linkedin.com
+44 (0) 7850 793 902

Natalie Futter
Edelman PR
Natalie.futter@edelman.com
+44 (0) 203 047 2321

About LinkedIn
Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. With more than 135 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet.  The company has a diversified business model with revenues coming from member subscriptions, marketing solutions and hiring solutions. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, LinkedIn has offices in 22 countries across the globe.

About the Red Tape Challenge
The Red Tape Challenge is an online Government campaign which harnesses the experience and ideas of those who deal with regulation day-in, day-out, and uses that experience to help the Government cut red tape. Overall, of over 1200 regulations considered so far in fields like retail, transport, employment-related law and manufacturing, and the Government has agreed to scrap or improve well over 50%. For more information, see http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/category/news-updates/