I am delighted to have been asked to speak at this event today, at this important occasion.
I also want to congratulate CCLRC and the ASTeC team in particular for all the effort they have put into bringing ASTeC into being. It is an important development for the UK Science Base.
Accelerators are the essential, central component in several large international facilities, which have been set up to undertake scientific research. An obvious example is CERN; the high-energy particle physics laboratory in Geneva, there is also DESY in Hamburg. Within the UK there is of course ISIS, SRS at Daresbury and Diamond, which comes on line in 2007. The development of ASTeC will help to enhance the science base by providing a unique resource on a UK level.
Facilities and equipment are important but advancement in research is not based only on the amount of money being spent, there must also be the exchange of ideas and collaboration with others for progress to be made. Within the accelerator based projects the examples which come to mind again are CERN and DESY, the latter has a substantial international participation. The success of these facilities demonstrates not only that collaboration is effective in enabling research at today's science frontiers, but that it is also a vital catalyst in stimulating new ideas and directions.
ASTeC will only realise its potential for success by collaborating with both UK and international partners. This is why I am so pleased to see ASTeC working on collaborations with UK Higher Education Institutions and on an international level with DESY, SLAC and the Jefferson Laboratory.
Looking ahead I am certain that there will be further opportunities for collaboration, for example on a European Spallation Neutron source and in the field of particle physics, there will be a need for higher collision energies beyond CERN and LHC, which can only be satisfied by a TeV scale linear collision facility. At a probable cost of around 3-5 billion euros such a venture almost certainly requires participation and collaboration by the global community.
We all recognise, I am sure, that despite being one of the leaders the UK is faced with increasingly fierce competition across the world to produce the best research. In order to maintain the lead in our areas of strength we must invest in the science base and key technologies.
As Minister of Science, I see my most important role as being to maintain and enhance the excellence of the science base. As the main investor in scientific research, the Government has the responsibility for creating the environment necessary to achieve this.
We have, therefore, greatly increased the flow of funds going into the Science and Engineering Base
The 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review increased the science budget by 15% over three years. This programme of investment was continued in July 2000. The 2000 Spending Review added £725 million to the Science Budget over three years, and in July this year, the 2002 Spending Review announced that the Science Budget will grow by an average of 10% a year in real terms and will reach £2.9 billion by 2005/2006.
In addition we have put together the Large Facilities Strategic Roadmap, which represents the first attempt at a ten to fifteen year map of future facility requirements. The objective here is to provide a longer-term vision of future requirements of the UK Science and Engineering Base in order to assess the most effective approach for satisfying UK needs. The Roadmap reflects the context of future European, or in some cases global, requirements for large-scale facilities. It will take onboard new information as it develops and will be updated as the need arises.
As an example of progress made towards realising this strategy, our highest priority the DIAMOND synchrotron project was launched as a joint venture with the Wellcome Trust in March this year. Other planned developments include a second target station for our ISIS neutron source.
Centres of excellence such as ASTeC are extremely important in enabling us to take advantage of our world-class science and engineering base, and for all these reasons, I am delighted to be here today and to formally declare ASTeC launched.
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