Contemporary Systems and Cybernetics

The concern about Safety‐critical Systems highlighted in this and other publications, and at meetings and conferences in Europe and the United States has, perhaps, influenced the United Kingdom bodies responsible for research to call for proposals under the Safety Critical Systems Advanced Technology Programme. The UK's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and its Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) have made £12 million available for such proposals: £9 million from the DTI and £3 million from SERC. Practice in the UK is that to be eligible for support a proposer must collaborate and involve three or more independent partners, with at least two from industry. The Workplan was published in the JFIT News Issue, No. 17, 1990, and the following summary provides an excellent insight into this important area. The three main areas are placed under the headings: “Technologies”; “Human Factors”; and “Unification”.