Correspondence: Science and technology for economic benefit across the UK

In this letter to the Prime Minister, CST outlines 7 proposals that the government and others can carry out to deliver economic benefits across the UK. The proposals seek to build on the UK’s science and technology strengths.

The proposals include:

  • encouraging local economies to identify the range of science and technology related assets they already have
  • maximising their existing assets
  • creating the right conditions for further investment
  • encouraging greater innovation in businesses across the UK’s sectors and regions


Correspondence: Science and technology for economic benefit across the UK

Advice to the Prime Minister on how the government can encourage science and technology to deliver economic benefits that are shared across the UK.



Correspondence: Advice on the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

Letter to Innovate UK and BBSRC providing advice on the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).



Correspondence: Advice on the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

In this letter to Innovate UK and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), CST considers the selection of challenge areas and how the fund is administered.

They advise that the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund should be seen in the wider perspective of the economic challenges that the country faces:

  • improving productivity
  • encouraging growth
  • delivering economic opportunities more widely across the UK

They recommend that potential challenges are selected and evaluated against criteria that use these priorities as their basis.



Recording of the week: computer programming and motherhood in the 1960s

This week's selection comes from Tom Lean, Project Interviewer for An Oral History of British Science.

Like many women in the 1960s, Stephanie Shirley left her job in the computer industry after becoming a mother. At the time, women were expected to cut short their professional careers and stay at home to raise the family, but this was not quite what Stephanie Shirley had in mind. In 1963 she started a company named Freelance Programmers, to allow women who had left the computer industry when they had children to continue working as programmers from home. In time, Stephanie Shirley's company grew to a major business employing thousands of people. However, at the start, with sexism rife, Stephanie Shirley had to go to rather unusual lengths to create a professional image, not least calling herself "Steve", as she recalls in this interview from An Oral History of British Science.

Stephanie Shirley_Programming at home (BL ref C1379/28)

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This clip is part of Voices of Science, an online resource which uses oral history interviews with prominent British scientists and engineers to tell the stories of some of the most remarkable scientific and engineering discoveries of the past century.

Follow @BL_OralHistory and @soundarchive for all the latest news.

Tom Lean will speak about the related An Oral History of Electricity Supply Industry project at ‘The Life Electric’, a British Library event on Thursday 19 October. Book your tickets here https://www.bl.uk/events/the-life-electric-oral-histories-from-the-uk-electricity-supply-industry