Hi Chris Just read your daily news alert and thought the comment on promotion is a very salient and topical subject – especially for the UK’s capabilities. I usually speak with Graham Pitcher and Ed Tranter from NE and I hope they’ll tell you that NMI is a body that is actively working on many of the issues we have in the UK. I’ll not go into all the challenges (there are many) however the “awareness” issue is more significant than might be immediately apparent. How do we attract the brightest of minds for the future if the industry is invisible? How do we ensure the business conditions are right if policy makers do not know what we do and how we contribute to the economy? How do we do business if potential customers (domestic and global) do not know we’re here? How do we fund necessary research if the opportunity and capability is not acknowledged? … how do we secure a bright, sustainable future? My colleagues and I consider these challenges everyday… we look at tangible ways to make a difference. For example… This year we launched the UK Electronics Skills Foundation with a number of industry, academic and Public sector partners to try and reverse the trend of diminishing (quality) graduates. We’re also leading a political engagement campaign with the new government The Future World Symposium is designed to be a long term show case for UK technology (in a globally relevant way) We operate 9 innovation and excellence networks which vrings industry together on a monthly basis We’re working with leading academics in several areas of research – from doctoral training centres to basic research. And a little bit of icing on the cake is NMInet (www.nminet.org) – a social networking site for electronics… it is here where we would like to hear more from the design community. Hopefully you’ve heard about us Chris – if not, you have now and I have made some steps towards greater awareness with you! Kind regards John Moor

- John Moor, 09/08/2010