§ Mr. Gordon BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the level of financial support for collaborative research in(a) Britain and (b) on a European scale in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. Ridley[holding answer 21 December 1989]: It is difficult to define collaborative research which takes many forms and involves a combination of various Government Departments, industry and academic institutions etc. both in the United Kingdom and internationally. Statistics are therefore not maintained in the form requested.
However, an indicative figure for Department of Trade and Industry spend on collaborative research and development projects for each of the years since 1979 is shown in the table.
Financial year £ million 1979–80 5.63 1980–81 15.32 1981–82 19.22 1982–83 22.00 1983–84 26.44 1984–85 29.70 1985–86 31.49 1986–87 34.36 1987–88 38.95 1988–89 40.72 TOTAL 263.97 Notes:
(i) The above figures include GICP (General Industrial Collaborative Projects), ATP (Advance Technology Programme), EUREKA and LINK plus previous schemes for collaborative Research and Development.
(ii) The above figures exclude ALVEY which will amount to around £100 million.
(iii) The figures from 1979–80 to 1983–84 are only approximate due to the uncertainty of early records.
In addition the United Kingdom currently contributes 18.7 per cent. to the EC framework programmes for research and development most of which is of a collaborative nature. These programmes have the following budgets:
billion ecu £ billion 1984 to 1987 3.75 2.7 1987 to 1991 5.4 3.8 1990 to 1994 5.7 42