RAEng urges ‘radical change’ for UK science strategy

Strategic advantage through science and technology: the engineering view is a position paper that states the UK should integrate science, technology and engineering into virtually all wider policy decisions, and can no longer be ‘considered in isolation’. RAEng has published the paper on the back of the government’s new Science and Technology Framework and Integrated Review Refresh. The Academy has identified six core principles it believes must underpin the UK’s efforts to deliver strategic advantage through science and technology policy, including long-term planning, agility, leadership, networks and action.

“Critical advances in engineering, science and technology have the potential to deliver tangible, real-world benefits to society,” said Dr Dame Frances Saunders, chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Strategic Advantage working group. “But the UK needs long-term strategic direction and planning supported by action to achieve its national ambitions and to adapt to new technologies and circumstances in an ever-changing world.