British Computers & Industrial Innovation

Out Of Print... This volume is, in effect, the considered and expanded majority report of Subcommittee D of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Science and Technology, which became a centre of intense interest and controversy during its hearings of 1969 and 1970. The contributions to this major investigation made by the specialist M.P.'s quickly earned the respect and appreciation of the computer industry. With the results of the General Election in June 1970, three of the five were lost to the House of Commons and the expectations of computer men, commentators and educators for a path through the maze of evidence and statistics drawn together by the enquiry seemed likely to remain unfulfilled. Eric Moonman decided, despite the adverse circumstances, that the urgent need for an authoritative report, based on the broadest possible overview of the computer industry, must be met. The opportunity to collect and sift such a wealth of information from unique sources was vitally important. He was supported in the task of analysis and presentation by his ex-parlianientary colleagues and by a number of distinguished witnesses to the Committee. The result of this combined report is the first comprehensive analysis of this most vital of all the industries of innovation.