I am delighted to be following such distinguished predecessors in presenting these awards—his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent a former Prime Minister, the Lord Mayor of London and two of my Cabinet colleagues.
In only five years this scheme has trained over a hundred engineers for senior management posts in industry. Many of today's graduates are also well on their way. And not a moment too soon.
Britain has produced many brilliant scientists and engineers. Sixty-two Nobel Prizes—a remarkable record. We have not lacked imagination and flair; what we have lacked is the managerial skill to exploit our string of world firsts in the market place. Today's graduates can help to change all that. They have the right background in engineering. And the Finniston Report showed just how much we need engineers.
They have the right training not just at Cranfield but also on the shopfloor. And above all they have the will to succeed. They are uniquely qualified to take the unique opportunities open to British industry in the 1980s.
In my speech at the Barbican Centre in December. I said that this country was in as good a position as any of its competitors to benefit from the age of information technology. Of course the Government has a part to play in preparing the way for the new industrial revolution. We can create the right climate for successful innovation by our policy on competition and incentives. We can provide the seedcorn money for research and development—this year we are spending £250m.
We can assist industry to introduce technology like microprocessors, robots and flexible manufacturing systems. We can ensure that children have the chance to become as familiar with the computer as they are with television, through our Micros in Schools Scheme. We can even contribute to the training of tomorrow's managers, as we have through the contribution of the Manpower Services Commission to this scheme.
But Governments cannot run businesses. We need managers with the vision to see how the new technology can meet their needs, the technical expertise to introduce it and the qualities of leadership to cope with the human consequences of change.
The use of the word leadership is. perhaps a little old-fashioned. But then so am I when it comes to judging character. Their background and their training will have equipped today's graduates to understand the constantly changing technical possibilities. I hope that it will also have [end p1] equipped them to understand the unchanging human values.
I congratulate the Engineering Industry Training Board for its part in creating this Fellowship Scheme: it is an investment in the future of British industry which I am sure will pay dividends many times over.
The number of our leading manufacturers who participate in the scheme is proof of their faith in it. I wish today's graduates well in their careers because the decisions which they make will determine the future prosperity of our country. I do so with confidence and I look forward to the time when one of them wins the Nobel Prize for management.