Retired former professor of Materials Physics and Innovation Policy at the University of Manchester. Nanotechnology, polymer physics, regional economic growth.
Joined March 2010
- Tweets11.4K
- Following369
- Followers8.4K
- Likes1.5K
Pinned Tweet
2025 highlights on my blog Soft Machines:
-On UK economic stagnation
-why the UK's new nuclear build programme failed
-good & bad reasons for growing UK manufacturing
-scenarios for the future of AI
-Moore's law
-university/R&D policy for hard times
softmachines.org/?p=3218
Wales has one of the weakest economies in the UK, with low productivity and relatively poor living standards. Not unrelatedly, it is one the UK's least research intensive economies. It should be in a position to benefit from the govt's emerging R&D devolution agenda...
...but there's tension between the focus of English devolution on Mayoral Combined Authorities & situation in devolved nations.
Some suggestions on the way forward in my blogpost: "The Welsh innovation economy and the new R&D devolution agenda"
softmachines.org/?p=3375
Richard Jones retweeted
What does govt's plan to "rewire the state" & shift power & funding to local leaders mean for research, development & innovation?
My summary of the rationale for devolution of RD&I funding, & the potential pitfalls, with some tentative principles
softmachines.org/?p=3364
What does govt's plan to "rewire the state" & shift power & funding to local leaders mean for research, development & innovation?
My summary of the rationale for devolution of RD&I funding, & the potential pitfalls, with some tentative principles
softmachines.org/?p=3364
Richard Jones retweeted
"R&D, place, and developing regional innovation systems: some lessons from Greater Manchester".
I gave a talk with this title at Imperial College's Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance last Tuesday - a summary, and the slides, can be found here:
softmachines.org/?p=3350
"R&D, place, and developing regional innovation systems: some lessons from Greater Manchester".
I gave a talk with this title at Imperial College's Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance last Tuesday - a summary, and the slides, can be found here:
softmachines.org/?p=3350
Good to see FT on new wave of fusion energy start-ups, with expert commentary from Princeton's Steve Cowley. but a major omission not to mention UK's STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) project, with goal of putting electricity on grid by 2040
ft.com/content/ef511d46-a689…
UK govt committed ~ £500m pa to STEP, with a site in north Notts. Success isn't guaranteed, but imo this is a v credible programme building on the UK's experience running JET and MAST at Culham. A rare area of genuine UK comparative advantage & technical capability
For a semi-technical description of the STEP project & the hurdles it (& other fusion programmes) need to overcome, see my blog post
Putting fusion power on the UK grid
softmachines.org/?p=3229
Richard Jones retweeted
In the Economist today:
“The false lure of factories: British politicians want a manufacturing jobs boom”
I’m quoted in the piece, & my views are fairly represented.
But imo the piece spends too much time on soft targets
economist.com/britain/2026/0…
In the Economist today:
“The false lure of factories: British politicians want a manufacturing jobs boom”
I’m quoted in the piece, & my views are fairly represented.
But imo the piece spends too much time on soft targets
economist.com/britain/2026/0…
& I agree we shouldn’t revive lost heavy industry of 1970s, much of which was technologically backward, unresponsive to changing markets, poorly managed, & with poor labour relations
(e.g. see my review of a recent book on the Sheffield Heavy Spring Trade)
softmachines.org/?p=3343
But reasonable to think that, at 8% of GDP, manufacturing share of UK economy too low.
We can look to richer countries, with higher mfg shares, like Switzerland (18%) and Singapore (16%)
More on the good and bad reasons to support manufacturing here:
softmachines.org/?p=3180
Richard Jones retweeted
(6/6)
Can we build new institutions to create more porosity & interaction between science progress & technological advance, perhaps new kinds of public/private partnerships?
More in my blogpost: Moving beyond the dichotomy between pure and applied science
softmachines.org/?p=3328
(1/6)
Changes at UKRI, the dissolution of DSIT and move of science to the business department lead to fears that UK science is being pushed in a more applied direction.
But the line between science and technology is fuzzier than many think...
(5/6)
We’ve lost something from this - it leads to the danger of science becoming more self-referential, and with less appreciation of the power and limits of existing technology and of the markets it serves
(6/6)
Can we build new institutions to create more porosity & interaction between science progress & technological advance, perhaps new kinds of public/private partnerships?
More in my blogpost: Moving beyond the dichotomy between pure and applied science
softmachines.org/?p=3328