The Research and Development Society

Tuesday 21 June 2005, 6.00pm
The Royal Society, 7 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG

Technology increasingly underpins all of our life styles. Our homes, our places of work, our hospitals and schools, our towns and cities The countryside all bear witness to the impact of new technology on the way we live. There is no sign that the relentless advance of technologies, often made possible by radical advances in manufacturing and delivery of services, is slowing down, despite the very real concerns about impact on the environment and on the distribution of wealth. In some ways the technological revolution may have barely started, as the world's major economies and the rapidly emerging economies become inextricably bound to growth through the development and utilization of advanced technology.

But globalisation is not quite working out as many were expecting, Emerging economies are not simply cheap “job shops” for the West. They are innovative in their own right, increasingly able to compete at the forefront of skills, technology development and use. They are becoming increasingly sophisticated markets for high value added products and services, sources of skilled people and opportunities for research and business partnerships. What more should we be doing in the UK to recognise and benefit from this changing technology and world order, building on where we can excel in manufacturing and services and on our increasing public sector investment in research?

The potential for increasing wealth creation and quality of life through the development and adoption of innovative technologies presents ever greater opportunities and challenges – for those with imagination, with the courage to invest in new knowledge, skills and infrastructure for long-term gain, and with the commitment to improving our world through technology.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya has been Director of the Warwick Manufacturing Group since 1980. He has pioneered an approach to post graduate and post experience education based on industrial partnership. He is a past member of the UK Council for Science and Technology and was a Board Member of the West Midlands Regional Development Agency. He is an adviser to the Government of several countries on matters of industrial policy and strategy.