Engineering success - comparatively speaking

Compare and contrast, as the examiners say, comments made last month by two people of some significance to the scientific community. First, according to Ian Taylor, science and technology minister, `we have an excellent science base in Britain and we have the right climate for the growth of entrepreneurial high-tech companies.' Then, from George Poste, SmithKline Beecham's chairman of R&D, the forthright opinion (see page 12) that `science is marginalised in public policy except when there's a crisis [such as BSE]'.

Selective quotes, perhaps, but they highlight the increasing polarisation between scientists and politicians. On one side there exudes almost an air of complacency and a belief that the market will embrace the good works of science, picking out winners along the way. On the other, a damning indictment of government (any government) policy on science, lent considerable weight by its source. For such a leading figure from one of the country's most successful science- and research-based companies to talk in terms of giving graduates `remedial training' speaks volumes about industry's current concerns over education.

Such concerns were not so evident when Ian Taylor made his comments at the announcement of the winners of the DTI-sponsored `Biotechnology Means Business (BMB) Business Mentoring and Incubator Challenge'. A bit of a mouthful, maybe, but the Challenge is a creditable attempt at supporting Britain's biotechnology businesses. The irony here, however, is that George Poste, addressing the CIA business outlook conference, warned about the threats to those very businesses from Pacific Rim countries that see the biotechnology sector as their next opportunity for growth.

While Poste's comments centred on science and scientists, he included engineering in his broad criticism of government policy. And with good cause, as was made clear only the following week at the London launch of the Year of Engineering Success (YES) campaign.

Supported by government YES may be, but that didn't stop the campaign's director Dr Mary Harris, herself an engineer, from quantifying the problem. `Britain needs around 30000 new qualified engineers and many more technicians each year just to replace those retiring or leaving the profession - just to stand still, without any growth,' she said. `We are in fact getting half this number.'