§ Mr. Hoggasked the Minister of Technology what new development contracts have been discussed, negotiated, or signed, respectively, with industry by his Department; how long they will take; and how much they are estimated to cost.
§ Mr. CousinsNone. But that part of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for which I am to take over formal responsibility has since mid-October placed further contracts within the fields of Advanced Computer Techniques and Superconductivity in respect of which research and development projects costing respectively £1½ million and £200,000 have already been announced. The number of such contracts placed, on all of which work has56W started, is ten to a total value of £287,000 of which the D.S.I.R. contribution will be some £187,000. The duration of these contracts range between nine months and two-and-a-half years. A further contract to a value of £92,000 has reached an advanced stage of negotiation. Over and above this, in the field of Superconductivity, contracts to the value of £150,000 are being negotiated on a cost sharing basis with industry for techniques leading to the production of improved superconducting wire composites.