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January E-Bulletin 2012

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21/12/11 CaSE met with BASF

 

16/12/11 CaSE met with the Institute for Fiscal Studies

 

15/12/11 CaSE attended the Biochemical Society Centenary Dinner

 

14/12/11 Imran Khan met with the Chief Executive of the Physiological Society

 

14/12/11 Beck Smith attended an electoral reform event on the House of Lords, hosted by the Constitution Unit

 

14/12/11 Beck Smith met with staff from Policy Connect

 

12/12/11 Beck Smith attended a Royal Society event on immigration

 

08/12/11 CaSE staff visited the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus

 

05/12/11 Imran Khan attended a lecture given by the former President of the Royal Society Lord Rees, hosted by the Centre for Science and Policy, in Cambridge

 

05/12/11 Imran Khan and Beck Smith met with staff from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

 

01/12/11 Imran Khan met with ICE

 

01/12/11 Beck Smith with Laura Hood from Research Fortnight to discuss House of Lords reform

 
Please forward this on to any colleagues or friends you think would be interested in supporting science and engineering.

  
Building the UK's High Tech Future 
This week the government outlined its ambition to make the UK 'the best place in the world to do science', in a speech given by the Science Minister David Willetts. The event was hosted by the think tank Policy Exchange, and co-organised by CaSE.

In the address, entitled 'Our High Tech Future', Willetts outlined a number of measures, including the idea of 'privately funded science universities', to help boost the UK's research base through private and international investment. The speech received coverage from BBC website and a interview on BBC Radio 4.   

Although welcoming these measures, CaSE  has called on the political parties to go further in outlining a clear alternative vision for the UK economy and spell out what they think a 'rebalanced' economy would look like.
Investing 4G in the Future 
CaSE Director Imran Khan has written an article for the Guardian, calling on the government to re-invest the upcoming multibillion pound windfall it will receive from auctioning off airwaves to mobile phone operators - the new 4G spectrum - and put the proceeds back into British science and engineering.

As Imran highlights, such a move would be an important step towards rebalancing the UK economy and would illustrate real commitment by the government to it's recently published  Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth.  
Life Sciences in the Spotlight 
CaSE has welcomed  the publication of the Government's new Life Sciences strategy, released in December. In a speech alongside the strategy, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of the Life Sciences industry to the UK economy and announced details of £360 million investment towards the commercialization of biomedical research.

The strategy also outlines a series of new initiatives to support the Life Sciences, including increased training for independent researchers, the formation of a National Biomedical Resource Unit, and the creation of a new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme to help smaller high-risk, early-stage companies.

  
Ongoing Work
  • House of Lords Reform
    CaSE is planning a meeting to discuss the impact of the House of Lords reform on the level of science and engineering expertise in the upper chamber. For further details get in touch with Beck Smith.  
  • Private Sector R&D

    In a new CaSE report we'll be asking what else politicians can do, now, to encourage more private sector investment in R&D.  We will be holding a meeting to consider the barriers to increasing investment and what can be done to remove them. For further details get in touch with Beck Smith.  

  • Higher Education in STEM
    CaSE has responded  to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry into Higher Education in STEM Subjects. The committee will publish its findings shortly.    
Upcoming Events 
  • Science Question Time
    The next Science Question Time will be held in February on the subject of nuclear energy. For further details please see our website or get in touch.
  • 'Politics for Scientists' Event
    CaSE and the British Library are co-hosting an event on Tuesday 13th March. The panel and invited audience will discuss how to get more scientist and engineers involved in politics professionally, and how we can make our political culture value science and evidence better. For further details on the event please get in touch.  
For details about further events see our policy events calendar.

Upcoming consultations  


Bridging the "valley of death": improving the commercialisation of research 

House of Commons Science & Technology Committee Consultation Inquiry
Deadline: 17th February
For more information on our activities go to our website www.sciencecampaign.org.uk
 
To contact us please telephone 0207 679 4994 or email nickh@sciencecampaign.org.uk