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British Technology Policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2014
Extract
FRANCIS BACON OBSERVED THAT IN THE DECLINING AGE OF A state, mechanical arts and merchandise flourish. Unfortunately, Britain's case is now almost the obverse of this. The underlying causes of Britain's present circumstances are evidently complex but a fruitful place at which to begin is with the country's technology policy and its associated research and development orientation.
It is especially alarming politically that the long run decline in manufacturing industry which Britain has experienced, and tolerated, throughout this century has recently accelerated. The country's share of world trade in manufactured goods fell precipitately in the 1960s (15 to 9 per cent), but worse still, there is evidence that imports have on balance become steadily more technologically advanced than exports. Inevitably, manufactures have contributed a falling proportion of overseas earnings (52 per cent 1971, 43 per cent 1981), leading to a historically unprecedented deficit on manufactured goods. Inevitably too, and worsened by the international recession, employment in manufacturing industry has fallen sharply (8.1 million 1971, 5.7 million 1982). The economic slide relative to other advanced industrial countries which has resulted has been disguised only by the strength of the service sector and the fortuitous arrival of North Sea oil. All this has naturally received an abundance of academic discussion.
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References
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4 HC 136 memo 25.
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6 Cmnd 7499.
7 Science and Government, HL20, 1981‐2.
8 Cmnd 8591.
9 Cmnd 8957.
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12 HL 89‐1, 1982‐3, para 16.2.
13 A Programme for Advanced Information Technology, DoI, September 1982.
14 Cmnd 7194: Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Engineering Profession.
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16 Standards and Specifications in the Engineering Industries.
17 Public Purchasing, NEDC (80) 44.
18 HC 89–1, 1982‐3.
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