This investment is for basic research in areas that support new high-technology business opportunities. Creating Innovation Opportunities is a response to the consultation process of the Foresight Project, which was launched in December 1997. Creating Innovation Opportunities is a response to the consultation process of the Foresight Project, which was launched in December 1997. During this process, a number of sectors called for greater investment in new-economy research areas. A knowledge-driven economy needs smart people with a sense of opportunity.
Overseas experience shows that new industries and businesses are often spawned from basic research.
Many countries are benefiting from the growth of the new economy , based on areas such as information technology, biotechnology, advanced materials and the combination of these and traditional economic activities. Creating Innovation Opportunities is designed to increase the pool of exploitable basic research findings. We cannot predict exactly which areas of basic research are likely to lead to new enterprises. We do know that by deepening our stock of basic knowledge, we increase our chances of finding the growth points. The Government will decide who will act as purchase agent for the new fund in the last half of 1999.