Does it really help to have media stars along to launch your reports?
The Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in the UK play an increasing role in delivering science policy. They are supposed to be in touch with what is happening locally, and get to hand out taxpayers' money to support local businesses and universities in the innovation game.
The RDAs are gradually overcoming scepticism of the "what do they know about science?" variety, but then they go and put on events with people like "Dr Edward De Bono, creator of the Six Thinking Hats concept and regarded by many as the world’s leading authority on constructive and creative thinking". To compound the disquiet, they recruit "BBC Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark" to host the bash.
Both have their place – somewhere – but it seems unlikely that can they really add much to the launch of the Northwest Science Strategy on 17 April at AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, Cheshire.
The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), one of the more visibly active RDAs, boasts "Our region is a £100 billion, science-based economy which is home to a number of world-class industrial laboratories, with total business R&D investment in excess of all other regions outside of the South East. We have strong, ambitious and vibrant universities and Research Institutes."
Dr De Bono may be a nice chap whose utterings are, contrary to their labels, nothing like the guff regurgitated by the dreadful Martin Lukes in his columns in the Financial Times. But he hardly has a reputation as a serial entrepreneur who could be a role model for aspiring innovators. Maybe Sir Alan Sugar is too busy torturing people on TV, but there must be someone they could line up as a keynote speaker someone who has actually done something to turn science into innovation.
Actually, looking at the list of the other speakers, you wonder why they need to ship in a management guru. We'll stick to reading the document which, if the last one is anything to go by, will bring together the views of some real heavyweights.
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