Exploiting new technology: Forty years on

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the recently published report entitled Funding Technology: Britain Forty Years On.

The report forms the fourth in a series that has examined the funding of innovation and entrepreneurship in differing national contexts. The first three reports covered the USA, Israel and Germany.

The report found that the UK displays economic weaknesses in the exploitation of new ideas, and discusses factors that are hindering the UK's ability to capitalise on turning research outputs into successful products and services.

The report is of value in warning that Britain must make the component parts of the knowledge economy work more effectively together.