Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am always very pleased to be asked to open something scientific. First, it takes me back to my own career—the beginning of my own career—when I found great fascination both in doing research and in knowing that one might be taking part in developing things which would be of great use to the people of my generation when great new things were then under foot and great new materials were being developed.
Since that time, technology has of course moved on very very fast indeed, and I doubt whether there has been a period in history when it has moved faster than it is moving now; and this is causing all kinds of changes in society and in work practices and in labour practices, but I think everyone who is here and who is interested in this subject knows that the only way to tackle it is that Britain must be right up in the forefront of change and must reckon to be ahead not only in the research, but in the inventive genius and, I hope, in turning that inventive genius into profits, because wherever [end p1] I go in the world, I get this: “Aren't your researchers marvellous? Isn't your inventive genius terrific?” I say: “And, yes, aren't your profits good!” Because the great difficulty—and it is a very strange phenomenon—is that we somehow do not have quite the acumen to turn our excellent research and development into quite so many profits as other countries do.
I am particularly glad to be back to this College. I have been here before and been through some of the research work in the labs, but also, when I travel the world and go to other countries, I frequently find, as I did comparatively recently in Hong Kong, great new electronic industries going, run by very very able young men and women and I say to them: “But this is marvellous! You have got a new business going very quickly! It all has absolutely the latest things! Tell me, where did you train!” “Imperial College of Science!” almost always, and so really, this particular college has had a very very great output of very distinguished students who have gone the world over.
Now, today, I am very happy to take part in the celebration of the first hundred years of the City and Guilds College, which became the Engineering Faculty of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, and I want really to begin what I have to say about that by paying tribute to the foresight of those people in the livery companies and the City of London who recognised a hundred years ago the problems of the inadequate engineers, inadequate education of engineers, in Britain at that time. And when we look back to that period, I [end p2] am always impressed by two things: first, the foresight and the looking forward of so many of its leading citizens; and secondly, the confidence with which they approached the task ahead. They then identified this problem. We needed more engineers. The training, the education, was not adequate. They did not write to “The Times” about it; they did not march to Trafalgar Square; they did not get a bishop to talk about it; they actually set about doing something about it themselves and they founded the City and Guilds College with the objective, which is quoted in your brochure, but which is worth reading out:
“To train technical teachers, proprietors and managers of chemical manufacturers and of other industrial works, as well as mechanical, civil and electrical engineers, architects, builders and persons engaged in our industry.”
I think they had the two objectives to which I referred earlier. Training people to do the research, to keep on top, to keep ahead; and then, the second thing, turning that to the creation of wealth, which is so much a subject of your Exhibition, because it is only by the creation of wealth, it is only by bringing discoveries to the masses of our people, that we can both raise the standard of living and also find the money to go on doing the extra unknown research, because as long as there are unknown features of our scientific life, so we shall go on and try always to wish to solve them.
Now, just as those great farsighted people spotted the need then, I am always told that we have not solved the [end p3] problem yet. Wherever I go, we need more electronic engineers, more mechanical engineers, more civil engineers, and particularly those who have an entrepreneurial spirit, who actually want to go and work in industry, who actually want to go and work on creating some of the great projects which are so much a feature of our modern life.
And so this Exhibition is indeed very very timely. It is timely because it represents the first hundred years; it is timely because the need which brought the college into existence then is the need which we face as we see this very very rapid change in technology now; and it is timely for the title “Technology 2000” , because as you come up, not only to the end of a century, but to the end of a millennium, you are bound to take an extra perceptive look to see whether we are getting everything right and doing it as we ought to.
I understand that the Exhibition shows the way in which research is being applied the world over and the way in which we have opportunities to improve the wider society and the world in which we live. In this particular College, it is helped enormously by the influence of sponsorship of sixty companies on the research in the College, which is all very welcome indeed.
May I also welcome the College's involvement in the teaching company scheme and the work with companies on assembly and control systems and computer-aided production. I confess that when I go into a chemistry lab now I almost do not recognise it. There are one or two bits of glass about, but there are more buttons and ironmongery than there used to be, and of course, I used to work in crystallography, but when I tell you that I [end p4] worked in crystallography before we had computers, you will understand just how very different the work we had to was and how very much it relied on the genius and imagination of some of the top researchers who managed without computers to elucidate some of the most complicated chemical structures and enabled us to synthesize them to great benefit of our people.
I think that the Exhibition will show not just the brilliance of the research, but the ingenuity with which it is being applied for profit for people.
Let me emphasise again the profit. We only succeed in investing in the future if we make the profit with which to do it, and it is not a bad objective to enable people to make that profit, to enable people to have a higher standard of living. Indeed, I think perhaps the only final problem that we have to tackle is not the research; it is not the inventive genius; it is still how to bring those who do the research, those who do the inventions, more closely into touch with the entrepreneurs, with the bankers—very important people bankers!—how to get them ready and willing to take more risks, because you know the City of London used to be absolutely at the forefront in taking risks. Not always wanting to play safe; recognising that if you do take risks, some will fail; not being too upset about it, and just going on and starting again. It is because you have that spirit here and because I believe we shall find it in the Exhibition and because I know that you have very carefully selected the projects which I am about to see, that I have very great pleasure in opening this Exhibition and I feel very honoured in being asked to do so. (applause)