Britain Touts Its R&D Resources To Investors

Add the UK to the roster of nations trying to exploit science as a means of rejuvenating industry. "The 21st Century is going to be dominated by knowledge. [And] to revolutionize our industrial performance, catch up, and overtake our competitors, we must make more of the unique resource that is our science and engineering base," Peter Mandelson, Britain's Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, told a recent investment seminar. He promised that a forthcoming research report will present "a range of policies to encourage business to become truly innovative and enterprising." In the meantime, companies seeking access to researchers in the UK can tap into a newly opened Web site dubbed R&D Connections.