Government and industry relations

Abstract

It is appropriate that I write about this subject as I collaborated with William Paterson on a project on government and the chemical industry in Britain, Germany and at the European Union (EU) level as part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) initiative on government and industry relations (today it would be called a programme). This led to a book (Grant, Paterson and Whitston, 1988) and a number of other publications among which I would single out Grant, Martinelli and Paterson (1989). This collaboration was the outcome of almost two decades working together at the University of Warwick. When I arrived at Warwick in 1971, the department (unlike today) did not have a particularly strong research culture, although Paterson, along with Malcolm Anderson, gave me considerable encouragement to pursue my research interests. After my interview at Warwick I found myself in Paterson’s office and it was clear that we had a common interest in pursuing serious research. It was therefore pleasing that we were eventually able to work together on this project, although the award of the grant was not greeted by line management with the level of enthusiasm that would accompany a major grant award in the current climate of Full Economic Costing.