§ Dr. McDonaldasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research is currently being funded by Government Departments into the social and economic consequences of the introduction of new technology, especially that likely to be developed from the Alvey programme and its successors.
§ Mr. PattieResearch on the social and economic consequences of the introduction of the new technologies is directed as much at informing public debate on this important issue as it is in helping to guide Government policy making. Although the Department of Trade and Industry is supporting some research in a related area, it is more appropriate that support should come from other public funded bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council and the National Economic Development Office.
There is a large and growing volume of activity in this field of research. The Economic and Social Research Council is giving high priority to funding and co-ordinating research not only into the social and economic aspects of new technologies but also their legal and managerial consequences. Professor Melody, who has been appointed to advise ESRC on this area, has been in touch with the Alvey directorate and other interested parties during the design stage of the proposed new research programme. Other committees of the ESRC are also involved.
The National Economic Development Office Information Technology economic development committee has a long term perspective group which is researching possible IT futures by commissioning studies from a variety of sources. The group is expected to report later this year.
The Department of Trade and Industry is maintaining close links with the ESRC and the NEDO IT long term perspectives group. In addition, because of the Department's concern with questions of acceptance and effective use of new technologies (and the probable dire consequences of their rejection), the DTI supported the public acceptance of new technologies project which was 170W one of 18 collaborative research projects initiated at the 1982 Versailles summit meeting. Some of the results of this research have already been published, by the Policy Studies Institute, London, and the policy research in engineering, science and technology, University of Manchester.