D Policy

LONDON - The Thatcher government has decided to scrap existing schemes to help individual companies commercialize their research, in favor of support for a long-term collaborative effort between universities and industries throughout Europe. At the same time it is adding $35 million to the budget of the Department of Trade and Industry for innovative programs, and plans to continue its support for new high tech firms. "The government should not take on responsibilities which are primarily those of industry," stated a White Paper announcing the changes. "The closer to the marketplace that innovation is taking place, the more fundamental this should be as a guiding principle." The shift in policy does not affect the government's Small Firms Merit Award for Research and Technology (SMART) program. "The rise of new high-technology firms adds an extra element of rivalry and flexibility to the market's response to technology opportunities," The White Paper declared, "This appears to be better developed in economies such as the U.S. Funding innovation in start-ups, the growth of new technology based small firms and in regions with limited technology can add to innovation throughout the economy." The shift also seals the fate of the country's five-year, $600 million Alvey program of information technology research (see accompanying story), for which funds have virtually expired. But the DTI has earmarked $50 million for domestic work to complement Britain's $150 million contribution to the second phase of the European Economic Community's Esprit project on information technology. The Science and Engineering Research Council will also hand out about $95 million over five years for academic work in this field. The announcement follows months of uncertainty about the future of information technology in Britain, and runs counter to a 1986 report that recommended a $1.9 billion successor to Alvey. "We are in danger of losing all the benefits of Alvey," insisted Rod Coombs from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Ian Wand of the University of York said that researchers were already being lost and that, despite the new money, "there is bound to be a period without funding, and teams are going to fall to bits," But, Brian Oakley, the former head of Alvey who is now chairman of the research wing of the software group Logica, described the new program as "quite respectable." Oakley was more critical of the government's decision not to back research that is close to the marketplace. "The trend of thinking in recent years has actually been in favor of public bodies giving more support to work nearing exploitation," he said. Despite the phasing out of schemes such as Support for Software Products, Doug Eyelons, director general of the Computing Services Association, welcomed the DTI's decision to encourage high-tech start-ups through an enlarged SMART program. "Britain's software industry contains many small companies that have found it difficult to attract the attention of the DTI," he said. "We hope this new initiative will makes big difference." There has also been an enthusiastic welcome for the department's announcement of a further $14 million for a three year program of grants on room temperature superconductors to supplement the $17 million provided recently for university work in this area (see THE SCIENTIST, January 25, 1988, p. 8). Dixon is European editor of THE SCIENTIST. BY JOHN STANSELL LONDON - The Alvey program in advanced microelectronics leaves a legacy of cooperative research that promises to outlast the completion of its last individual project later this year. Begun in June 1983, Alvey proved to be a model for government- university-industry collaboration, for joint efforts among competing companies, and for cooperative research throughout Europe. It has also received high marks for luring top scientists back to Britain. Britain failed to match similar efforts in microelectronics, artificial intelligence and software begun earlier in the decade by the United States and the Japanese because of battles between government departments and hostility between university-based and industrial researchers. The logjam, however, was broken by a 1982 report from a committee headed by John Alvey, head of R&D at British Telecom. The new program was given a five-year budget of $630 million, almost half of which was to be provided by industry and $90 million of which was earmarked for university-based research. Officials steered a deliberate course between basic and applied research. There are several success stories. One project being pursued by Plessey after an initial grant from Alvey is expected to yield silicon chips that are many times faster than current gallium arsenide versions and operate on much less power. A project on artificial intelligence, being developed by Logica, will provide insurance companies with a better method for selecting the best stock investments. Alvey also pioneered what has become known as 'competitive' research, bringing together firms that would normally compete with one another for technological advances. Its approach has served as a model for such current European collaborative research efforts as Esprit, Eureka and Race. The approach proved to be so successful that by mid 1986 nearly all of Alvey's funds had been allocated. The eventual tally of 199 industrial projects with identifiable commercial applications and 116 "uncle" projects, which are more speculative, university-based efforts overseen by an industrialist, reflected the dual goals of the Alvey program. In addition to shaping the structure of research projects conducted by the European Commission, Alvey provided the resources and intellectual challenges to entice leading scientists and engineers back home. Robb Wilmot, who returned to Britain after heading a product division at Texas Instruments, believes that Alvey will allow Europe to keep pace during the next decade of progress in microelectronics. Stansell is Technology Editor of Financial Weekly magazine.

D Policy

Become a Member of

Meet the Author

Bernard Dixon

Published In

February 1988

Related Research Resources

Why Do Some People Get Drunk Faster Than Others?

Research Resources

Podcasts

Webinars

Videos

Infographics

eBooks

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Approaches for Decoding Cancer at the Single-Cell Level

Organoids as a Tool for Tissue Regeneration Research

Products

Product News

Artificial Inc. proof-of-concept data demonstrates platform capabilities with NVIDIA’s BioNeMo

Sapient Partners with Alamar Biosciences to Extend Targeted Proteomics Services Using NULISA™ Assays for Cytokines, Chemokines, and Inflammatory Mediators

Bio-Rad Extends Range of Vericheck ddPCR Empty-Full Capsid Kits to Optimize AAV Vector Characterization

Accelerating Mycoplasma Testing for Targeted Therapy Development