Technology foresight : first report. Volume II, Minutes of evidence and appendices / Science and Technology Committee.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Science and Technology
Date:
1995
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Technology foresight : first report. Volume II, Minutes of evidence and appendices / Science and Technology Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/204 (page 6)
    24 October 1995] [Continued 5.7. The official Committee on Science and Technology and the Science and Engineering Base Co-ordinating Committee (SEBCC) will continue to monitor the progress of Foresight and, where appropriate, seek to encourage implementation of Foresight findings (recommendation 11). 5.8 The Forward Look will review Foresight progress annually and will provide a central assessment of the shifts in the SET portfolio which result from it (recommendations 12, 13 and 18). 5.9 Departments have established very good working relationships with their appropriate sector panels (recommendation 19). Within DTI, the sector divisions have direct links to the panels through senior officials’ membership of 12 of the Panels. Regular meetings of these officials and others responsible for Foresight follow-up are held to ensure co-ordination of effort. As a result of the transfer of OST to DTI, the Foresight panels now have an additional resource on which to draw in the form of DTI’s sector divisions and the Government’s Regional Offices, which have extensive knowledge and contacts with industry and related organisations. Close working practices have been established to improve efficiency and effectiveness and to ensure maximum synergy in promoting the Foresight message in industry. DTI sector divisions and Government Offices are actively working with panels to arrange specific events, such as workshops, and to promote wide industrial involvement in taking forward Technology Foresight. 5.10 Other Departments also work closely with the Foresight panels. For example, the Department of the Environment has been involved with the construction panel since its inception, and is seeking to dovetail the priority recommendations of that panel with the Whole Industry Research Strategy (WIRS) which the Department has formulated in collaboration with industry bodies. Some Departments have devised new arrangements since the Steering Group’s report (for example the Ministry of Defence, see below, paragraph 5.12) in order to co-ordinate responses to Foresight. The Whitehall Foresight Group will keep these emerging arrangements under review. 5.11 Recommendation 20 proposed that the Public Understanding of Science (PUS) programme should have a foresight dimension. A major opportunity to follow this up will arise during Science Week early in 1996. In the meantime, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) supported by OST mounted “The Foresight Experiment” during early September. This event contrasted the views of people over the age 40 with young people as they view emerging trends and opportunities in the food and drink sector. On the same day, the BAAS (with OST and private sector support) launched “Visions of the Future”, an explicit response to the Steering Group report and an important contribution to the public understanding of science. This initiative will encourage young people to assess future trends through a nationwide series of briefings, presentations and debates. Universities will be selected as regional debate centres for the topics identified in the Technology Foresight Programme. Other ideas, including national competitions and interactive discussions over telecommunications networks, are under discussion. DEFENCE 21. We recommend that the R&D base in the defence area must sustain and enhance its cutting edge R&D capability. 22. We recommend that the MoD continues to take steps to access leading edge R&D in industry, and in the civil sector, as well as in-house. 23. We recommend that new initiatives should have wealth creation as a priority. These initiatives should be funded jointly by the DTI, OST, civil industry and defence in areas of underpinning technology. 24. We recommend that the civil-defence forum work closely with the Defence and Aerospace Foresight Panel. 25. We recommend that technology Demonstrators should be included when joint DTI, OST civil industry and defence priorities are being considered. 26. We recommend that LINK be developed as a mechanism to establish these new civil, defence and industry partnerships. 27. We recommend that substantially increased attention be given to the co-funding of defence projects on a European basis. 5.12 Defence. The main actions in this field are for MOD to pursue (recommendations 21-27). The Trade and Industry Select Committee has recently received evidence from the former Defence Procurement Minister (Mr Freeman) to the effect that MOD is vigorously following up Foresight on a Departmental basis. In particular, two initiatives may be noted. First, MOD has announced the preparation of a Technology Strategy to the Managing Directors of the UK Defence Industry. It is envisaged that this will in future meet the MOD need for