SUMMARY OF CST MEETING ON 27/28 MARCH 2006
Attendees
1. The meeting was chaired in part by Sir Keith Peters and in part by Sir David King. The other members present were:
Professor Sir John Beringer, Professor Geoffrey Boulton, Professor Janet Finch, Andrew Gould, Professor Wendy Hall, Professor Alan Hughes, Dr Sue Ion, Dr Rob Margetts, Sir Paul Nurse, Dr Raj Rajagopal, Professor Michael Sterling, Professor Kathy Sykes, Dr Mark Walport.
2. Also in attendance for parts of the meeting were: Garth Shepherd, DTI/OST, Professor Frank Kelly, Chief Scientific Advisor, Department for Transport, Dr Jonathan Mosedale, Department for Transport.
Conclusions
CST agreed to write to the following:
- Energy Minister, Malcolm Wicks. The letter includes points made on general energy policy, timelines for energy technologies, fiscal and other barriers, engagement and public dialogue.
- DFES and European Commission on the proposed European Institute of Technology (EIT).
- Treasury on the Next Steps (Science and Innovation Framework 2004-2014) document, detailing CST's response to the seven discussion questions set out in this document. A meeting will be sought with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Ongoing work includes:
- Public Health: This project is exploring how potential health impacts are assessed and used in policy making across government. Henley Centre have completed and published their six case studies that identify policy processes that demonstrate the benefits of assessing potential health impacts. A workshop was held on 30th March to discuss this report and potential recommendations that CST will make in its report which is due to be published in summer 2006.
- Innovation: This project is considering how maximum value creation can be obtained from R&D inputs, with a particular focus on: (i) innovation in the services sector (Lord Sainsbury and Sir Brian Bender hosted two dinners in March 2006 with senior UK business representatives that looked at this agenda); and (ii) barriers to growth in small and medium sized enterprises (workshop held in March 2006 with broad group of attendees). Procurement is a key theme from both these agendas. The possibility of holding a workshop on clusters and corporate venturing is also being explored.
- The Research Endeavour: CST is currently considering how the UK should position its research base so that it is fit for purpose in 20 years time. There are two main components in this - the people and the structures, ie the who and the how.
Other items discussed included:
- CST will meet with the PM on June 27th 2006 to discuss the science base and wealth creation. Topics to be discussed are innovation in the services sector, public procurement, pharmaceutical/biotech/NHS issues, energy and public health/education issues.
- Lord Sainsbury was the guest at the CST dinner. The discussion considered what interventions were needed over the next 20 years to ensure that the excellence of UK universities and the research base would be sustained. Issues raised included graduate schools, interchange between industry and academia and the competitivity in attracting top scientists.
The next CST meeting will be on 14/15 June 2006.