Why doesn’t the UK take European research opportunities more seriously?

The blog touches on a number of issues, but one in particular is interesting - the UK's long standing reluctance to get involved with European electronics research projects. Europe has been running microelectronics projects since 1989, when the JESSI programme started things off. MEDEA took over in 1997 and, since then, we've seen ENIAC and ARTEMIS. None of these projects has seen strong UK interest. Yet other countries have a different outlook. Here's an interesting statistic; between 2008 and 2013, the UK drew €93million in funding from ENIAC and MEDEA - that's UK government, EC and company contributions combined - while France drew €1.179billion during the same period. There has been a reluctance over the years for any UK government to participate meaningfully in European programmes. Why, you wonder, does this state of affairs pertain? Is it an inherent distrust of all things Europe? Is it an inherent distrust of collaboration? Maybe - just maybe - it's because UK governments since the early 1980s have not had electronics anywhere near the top of their priorities? There has been more than a suspicion that nobody in government - with the possible exception of Lord Sainsbury - has been able to understand quite how important the electronics industry is to the UK. The recent ESCO Report attempted to measure the industry, claiming the electronic systems sector contributes some £80bn a year to the UK's GDP (about 5.4%) and sustains 850,000 jobs. By contrast, agriculture - with its own minister - supports 535,000 jobs. While ESCO believes the UK is a leading location for electronics, its report noted 'this position is under threat from other locations, where the strategic partnership between industry, academia and government is stronger than it is in the UK'. And, it seems, France is one of those locations.