The UK IT sector is being damaged by a "parochial" and "crazy" attitude towards immigration, according to the boss of the country's most successful software company.
Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy, warned that the UK's IT economy could be set back irrecoverably unless the government relaxes its current stance on allowing the "brightest and the best" to freely move into the country.
"The idea that a bright student from Africa may be stopped from entering this country is a shot in the foot for both the UK and Africa. The current parochial attitudes to immigration in this country are just crazy."
In a speech to the Commonwealth Technology Forum in London, Lynch also said that regional competition was an outdated idea and that international co-operation was the way forward.