Building bridges for business in science, engineering and technology

Citation

(2003), "Building bridges for business in science, engineering and technology", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 50 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2003.12850eab.012

Building bridges for business in science, engineering and technology

Building bridges for business in science, engineering and technology

The Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) have announced the creation of its Business and Industry Panel. This latest initiative unites some of the most respected names in business and industry to amplify the voice of the UK's commercial sector in addressing the skills gap deficit in science, engineering and technology (SET).

The development of the panel recognises the crucial relationship between UK wealth creation and the creative and commercial use of SET "know-how". Its mission will be to nurture this vital partnership, and to ensure an adequate supply of the skills needed to maintain and accelerate wealth creation.

The ETB Business and Industry Panel, under the chairmanship of Graham Spittle, IBM Vice-President for Business Integration Development and Director of the IBM Hursley Laboratory, set out the blueprint for this new approach at the Panel's inaugural meeting.

Opening the meeting, Mr Spittle said: "Business and Industry must take a leading role with its partners in education, the professional institutions and the Government in ensuring that the supply of SET skills matches demand."

"The Business and Industry Panel will act as ETB's platform for initiatives and actions designed to integrate and explain the skill needs of business. We must also start convincing our future employees that we really are as good as we claim to be in providing exciting opportunities for the future."

John Halton, ETB's Director of Business and Industry, added: "The commercial sector must engage far more with its 'skills supply' partners to explain its needs, and to understand how it can help to encourage young people in education today to choose a career in the SET professions and with SET dependent businesses."

"We are confident that the Business and Industry Panel will play a crucial role in achieving the step-change in the quantity and the quality of people with science, engineering and technology skills that the UK urgently requires."

ETB Chief Executive, Alan Clark, noted that: "The Business and Industry Panel is one of the bridges that we are building to connect the wider engineering community. The involvement of so many eminent business people will help ensure that we deliver on our objectives."