Prime minister Gordon Brownsays he
wants the UK to rely less on financial services and more on science
and technology for generating GDP.
Gordon Brown gave the
Romanes Lecture at
Oxford University last Friday. During the Romanes Lecture, the
prime minister said the government wanted to spend money on
generating wealth through science and technology.
He said the government wanted to "move away from an economy
centred so heavily on financial services - which involves finding
ever more arcane ways to price complex derivatives - to one that is
broader-based with a new focus on science and innovation".
Brown said the government's commitment to science is not new. He
said: "Since 1997, investment in science has more than doubled in
cash terms - an 88% real terms increase rising to almost £6bn a
year by 2010/11.
"We will meet our ten-year commitment to maintain science
spending with investment focusing on pure fundamental science as
well as applied science. We will invest not just in specific
projects but also crucially right across the science base that
underpins our international reputation."
He said the government would continue to ringfence money for
continuing science spending, even though other competing areas
required investment too.
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