The Prime Minister, The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, visited the Nottingham Geospatial Building on Saturday 27th March, to set out his party’s five key pledges ahead of the imminent General Election. The visit took place two days after the building was officially opened by David Lammy MP, Minister of State for Higher Education.
The Prime Minister’s visit comes a week after Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills and Science and Innovation launched the new executive space agency for the UK and the publication of the Government response to the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy (IGS), which highlighted GRACE as the preferred GNSS hub for supporting SMEs and providing both industrial and academic research.
Recognising the role that science and technology plays in the wider society, the Prime Minister pledged to build a high-tech knowledge economy which in turn would support his strategy for securing the nation’s economic recovery. Professor Terry Moore, Director of both the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) and the GNSS Research and Applications Centre of Excellence, said ‘The Prime Minister’s choice of the Nottingham Geospatial Building highlights the University’s leading position in providing innovative research and business support services’.