Last week included lengthy meetings assessing the proposals for quinquennial funding from the Institutes to whom we give strategic support. These proposals fell into two categories, viz National Capability Grants and Institute Strategic Programme Grants, with separate Panels for each. I was very pleased with the care, thoroughness and expertise displayed by the Panels as they reviewed some very complex and wide-ranging materials. Their deliberations will feed into a series of Institute Assessment Panels carried out on site throughout the autumn, for final decisions to be taken by Council early next year. [...]

Last week began with a visit of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Dr Vince Cable, to open the Norwich Innovation Centre on the Norwich Research Park. Dr Cable was also shown round The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC), where the full array of modern genome sequencing instrumentation was on show, together with some of the tools for analysing genomics data. The point was made that if automobiles had increased in speed at the rate that genome sequencing had over the last 10 years they would now be travelling at millions of miles per hour… [...]