Description:

In July 1992, Professor Gordon Wray FRS, of the Loughborough University of Technology in the UK, visited the University of Canterbury. The four-day visit was hosted by CAE in association with the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Canterbury Branch of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand.

During his visit, Professor Wray gave a seminar on "State-Industry-University Linkages", which was followed by an afternoon seminar on "Encouraging Better Linkages between Research Institutions and Industry in New Zealand". The proceedings of the last seminar and the discussions that followed were published by the Centre in July 1993 as State-Industry-University Linkages: Encouraging Better Collaboration between Research Institutions and Industry.

In the first seminar, Professor Wray gave an overview of the British university system and its role in applied engineering research. He discussed the benefits and the difficulties involved in collaborative research and listed some of the successes at Loughborough University.

The second seminar focused on the New Zealand situation. Invited speakers were:

* Dr Basil Walker, Chief Executive, Ministry of Research, Science and Technology
* Angus Tait, Managing Director, Tait Electronics Limited, Christchurch
* John Manning, Manager, Technology for Business Growth Programme, Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

Each discussed applied engineering research from their own perspective, the strengths and weaknesses of the present system in New Zealand and noted the parallels between the UK and New Zealand as described earlier by Professor Wray.