In order to trade our way out of this debt crisis and balance the books, the UK needs to find something it can sell. With a rich history of success in scientific research, from Nobel Prize winners to innovative new materials, I believe that it is the UK's life science sector that will play a key role in paving the way to our economic recovery by developing and exporting the products and services that the rest of the world needs; from the continued provision of medicine, to food, to energy. [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]

In my regional paper, the EDP, I wrote today about how we must not let a crisis go to waste. By that I mean that challenges often lead to radical innovation and we cannot afford this reforming opportunity to pass us by. [read more]