INTRODUCTION

  The IMechE is a registered charity, representing the interests of over 80,000 professional engineers and students in the field of Mechanical Engineering.

  Through its Boards, Committees and permanent staff it is actively engaged in promoting the dissemination of technology, setting and monitoring standards in higher education and training and forging links with Industry, Academe, Professional Engineering Institutions and Government.

SUMMARY

  The IMechE welcomes the inquiry. The steady flow of innovative ideas into industry is vital to establish leading edge technologies and world class manufacturing.

SPECIFIC COMMENTS ON INFLUENCING FACTORS

1.  The Industrial Application of Government Funded Research

  IMechE endorses the relevance of this factor, and assumes that data is available to show a track record of performance i.e. evidence of yield to UK plc. Government funding has a role to play in situations where the capital value of research equipment is beyond the resources of the private sector to finance in terms of a return on capital employed. "Big Science" falls into this category and there are some facilities which are unique, in some cases by default, because the rate of usage does not justify replication. There are some examples of this at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

2.  The Respective Roles of Government Laboratories and Independent Research and Technology Organisations

  IMechE endorses the relevance of this factor; there is an increasing trend by major industries and tier one suppliers to place "application" contracts with independent R&D Organisations; the underlying reasons will be of value to this inquiry.

  Where Government funding can play a key role in helping industry is in providing seedcorn funding of development projects which might not otherwise go ahead. However, the level of funding needs to be a substantially higher proportion of the project costs for SMEs than for larger companies.

3.  The Operation of Government Schemes Designed to Promote Collaboration in-and Industrial Application of Research

  In situations where a number of companies have a common interest in a particular topic, the formation of a JIP (Joint Industry Project) can be a very effective way of carrying out pre-competitive research. The JIP can be managed by a third party such as an independent research and technology organisation or a specialist consultancy company. These might also undertake much of the research under contract to the consortium of sponsoring industrial companies. Such organisations are much better suited to carrying out focused industrial research to tight time scales than are the Government Laboratories.

4.  Intellectual Property Rights and Patents

  It is important to establish the Intellectual Property Rights status at the commencement of a Joint Industry Project, as it is for any contract research carried out in the public or private sectors. Some private sector organisations will of course provide an advisory service for exploitation of IPR, including patents, and may also take specific products or processes through the first stages of commercialisation on a "risk and reward" basis. Again it is the smaller companies that are in need of greatest financial help in taking forward innovative ideas from concept to design and implementation.

5.  The Provision of Finance to Support Enterprises Involved in the Application of Research and Innovation

  IMechE perception is that this (ie application) is already covered within 3 above. IMechE recommend that 3 addresses "collaboration"; and 5 addresses "application". Alternatively, redefine these factors so that ambiguity is removed.

6.  The Role of Foresight Programme in Fostering Networks and Identifying Priorities

  The Foresight Programme has so far played only a minor role in fostering networks. It was seen by many as "high level" ie of interest to larger organisations with longer term strategic objectives but of little relevance to smaller businesses, particularly SMEs. This needs to be taken into account in the second Foresight Survey. However, the adoption of a market sector approach and identifying key technologies within each sector was undoubtedly better than the converse of pursuing technologies only, as has been done in Foresight exercises, in some other countries.

  We believe it will be essential at the commencement of the next Foresight survey to consider how the outputs will be disseminated and implemented. The first exercise has already had a considerable amount of influence on the spending priorities for Government-funded R&D. For example, the Foresight recommendations are regularly quoted in research proposals submitted to the various Research Councils. If the second exercise is more detailed and less "high level" in its approach than the first, its outputs will be more relevant to a wider range of smaller companies. This must be recognised at the outset and plans put in place to alert the wider business community to the benefits of Foresight and its processes.

7.  The Role of the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council in Fostering Technology Transfer

  Through funding various Industry/University research schemes such as the Teaching Company Scheme, CASE Awards, etc the EPSRC plays a modest role in fostering technology transfer. The major components of technology transfer are people and software. In this respect, EPSRC plays a vital role in managing the funding of research projects at Universities and Government Laboratories which produce technologically trained people and engineering/scientific software which can be taken up by industry.

  Overall, the IMechE considers that formulation of a new strategy will be critically dependent upon the cost effectiveness of prior schemes and processes. Government must develop mechanisms of confidence weighted risks and benefits before funding.

6 March 1998