A discussion on ship technology in the 1980s - Introductory remarks

The Royal Society, which from the seventeenth century onwards has acted as a centre for whatever has been of excellence in British science and technology, is participating more than ever today in those processes by which science and technology are recognized as integrated into the fabric of society in general, and into the industrial life of the country in particular. To this end, The Society’s Committee for Industrial Activities, of which I am Chairman, is organizing an extended series of discussion meetings under the general title ‘Technology in the 1980s’. There was an excellent attendance for the exciting first meeting of the series, held last November, on ‘Building technology in the 1980s’, and I am delighted to welcome another large and distinguished audience to this second meeting on the subject ‘ Ship technology’, one that has been dear to the Royal Society’s heart from the early days of Fellows such as Samuel Pepys. The general aim of our series of meetings on ‘Technology in the 1980s’ is to promote, in the context of each major industry or group of industries, the formation of some integrated forward look by those engaged in research, development and forward planning. We want to ask not only to what extent the research and development now in progress may succeed in improving the industry’s future prospects; not only how the changing world patterns of demand and other economic factors will modify the kinds of research and development needed; we aim to go beyond those two questions into the field of integrated techno-economic planning which seeks to combine the best available technological and economic information to produce as clear a map as possible of the industry’s future; a map with the features of Britain’s own industry emphasized, but seen in the context of world developments.