This letter appeared in the Financial Times on 13 September 2010

From Ms Lucy P. Marcus.

Sir, The recommendation from Vince Cable that science research should abandon work that is “neither commercially useful nor theoretically outstanding” (News digest, September 8) as part of the UK’s austerity drive has sparked a vital conversation. I believe investment in blue skies research remains essential. It cannot be consigned to the scrapheap to meet short-term cost-cutting measure. We must not abdicate our future simply because not all scientific discovery can be immediately quantified in its commercial value.

Read the article on the FT