§ Mr. Stottasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will review ways of increasing expenditure on pre-competitive collaborative research and development for civil industrial applications.
§ Mr. PattieMy Department has already taken steps to encourage greater commitment of its own, as well as industrial, resources to precompetitive collaborative R&D projects. The largest and most well known initiative is the Alvey advanced information technology project which brings together industrial companies, the Science and Engineering Research Council, the MoD and the DTI.
The Department also supports some 30 or more smaller "club" or collaborative projects with civil industrial participation, which are designed to encourage faster development and exploitation of various technologies. Examples of these include opto-electronics, engineering uses of high powered lasers and advanced engineering ceramics.
Collaborative projects can be based on expertise in a wide range of public sector research laboratories, in research associations and universities, as well as on specific technical developments within the private sector.