REPORT OF THE SCIENCE STRATEGY REVIEW GROUP:

SUMMARY OF KEY QUESTIONS

Science and the Economy

• How to link the provision and use of science with economic growth and wealth generation in Scotland.

• How to foster technology transfer and uptake.

• How to stimulate entrepreneurship.

• How to target investment in science and technology with this in mind.

• How to manage and co-ordinate the continuing strong science base in Scotland, including the prioritisation of investment in research.

• How to improve Scotland's track record in exploiting the outputs of its science and engineering base

• How to link a science strategy into a related economic framework for Scotland.

• How to foster increased "industry pull" in Scotland (although this raises wider issues beyond the scope of a science strategy).

• There are questions concerning entrepreneurship and business appreciation among scientists and engineers, and questions of technology management in business and industry.

• How to facilitate technology transfer at the interface between academic research and industry.

• Should there be an additional emphasis on supporting pre-competitive development and application.

• Should increased public funding be made available for this purpose cf Scottish Enterprise's "Proof of Concept" fund.

Science and Government Policy

• How to provide an advisory framework which builds on existing systems in a co-ordinated way.

• How to ensure the best and most relevant scientific advice is available to Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Executive.

• How to ensure improved coherence and consistency within the Scottish Executive for the provision of science to underpin aspects of policy making.

• How to achieve an increasingly objective and evidence-based approach to policy making.

• How to define and put in place a Scottish scientific advisory system which is integrated where necessary into UK and European systems, and which at the same time ensures that the best and most relevant scientific advice on specific Scottish issues, or on wider UK and international issues which have an impact on Scotland, is available to Scottish Ministers.

• How to engage the social sciences not only in the development of the Scottish Executive's social policies but also in the development of its economic and environmental policies as well.

Science and the Public

• How to generate a better understanding and acceptance of scientific uncertainty and risk.

• How to secure a debate on scientific issues with the public.

• How to assist the media in presenting science and its role in policy.

• How to address the issues of communication skills for scientists, and help improve public understanding of science (in which school education can also play a significant role).

• How to build up the degree of trust between scientific experts and the public when different scientific opinions on a difficult or novel piece of science may be equally defensible in the light of existing knowledge.

Science and Education.

• How to arrest the fall-off in interest and attainment at upper primary and lower secondary levels (at a time when pupils are beginning to develop ideas on choices for the future).

• How to address the relatively low levels of scientific training in primary school teachers (and a concomitant lack of confidence in teaching the general science curriculum at that level).

• What mechanisms should be put in place to provide for the continuing professional development of specialist science teachers in secondary schools as scientific knowledge expands.

• Whether the existing emphasis on a general scientific education and scientific literacy - and its relevance to modern lifestyles and careers - is sufficient.

• Whether there is adequate provision for those pupils who wish to specialise in science and pursue it in the tertiary education sector.

• How to provide the enhanced physical infrastructure (laboratories and equipment) that is required in many schools, and the implications of this for the effectiveness of science teaching.

• How to build on existing activity by companies supporting science education in schools and to engage new companies in such activities.

The Science Base in Scotland

• How to preserve and enhance the excellence and diversity of the Scottish science base.

• How to strike the right balance between encouraging competition and promoting collaboration.

• How to encourage multidisciplinary working as scientific problems become more complex and require a range of disciplines and skills for their advancement.

• What balance to strike between, on the one hand, research aimed at scientific curiosity and the pursuit of new knowledge for its own sake, and on the other, the generation of knowledge and technology - through applied research - which is more immediately relevant to user communities.

• How to maintain the skills base and specifically to provide adequate career paths for research staff.

• How to set a framework of policies, priorities and objectives which could help shape the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council's (SHEFC's) funding of science in order to meet these various requirements in a balanced way, and to ensure that the criteria on which funding of research in Higher Education is based, are appropriate to the needs of Scotland in the 21^st Century.

• How to achieve a coherent and co-ordinated approach among the various funders of research.

• How to set priorities for research spend across these various budgets.

• How a Scottish science strategy how would link into science policy both at the UK level and in Europe and beyond.

• How to address distinctive needs in Scotland while continuing to link into the wider context and drawing as necessary on the UK science base.

• How to ensure that Scottish scientists are able to continue to contribute to science and science policy-making in UK and international fora, and represent Scottish science at those levels.