Few now disagree that we don’t just need growth but a more sustainable recovery based on an economy less reliant on the City and debt-fuelled consumer booms. The pace of growth in the developing economies creates major markets for UK science, technology and innovation. As the next phase in the agricultural and industrial revolutions takes hold, huge markets will be opened up, not least in the life sciences – the use of biological science to solve societal challenges in medicine, energy and agriculture. [read more]

Today's announcement of £250m of new funding for the UK Bio-economy is a historic shift in the development of a new Industrial Policy for Science and Innovation, and paves the way for the UK - and the Norwich Research Park - to lead a new Green Revolution in crop science. The announcement by Rt. Hon. David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, of £250m new funding for the bio-economy is the launch pad of a new era of UK leadership in the bio-economy revolution sweeping the globe. We face an urgent challenge of global sustainable development. [read more]