§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Prime Minister what civil funds are now available to support new colllaborative projects for research and development in advanced information technology.
§ The Prime MinisterA range of civil funds is available to support new collaborative projects for research and development in advanced technology.
Financial assistance is available under the Department of Trade and Industry's support for innovation scheme, the Alvey programme and under European Community programmes such as Esprit. The last two of these programmes are now almost fully committed and consideration is being given to what might succeed them.
Total estimated outturn for all forms of United Kingdom civil support for IT collaborative research in 1985–86 is £40 million. In addition, the United Kingdom receives a proportion of the funds disbursed by the European Commission under the Esprit programme of collaborative research.