The UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has created a new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), seemingly putting these fields at the heart of UK government policy for the first time in decades. The move has been broadly welcomed by those who have called for more emphasis on science and technology in government, but will it really make a difference?
A dedicated department has certainly been a long time coming. Back in 1964, the then prime minister, Harold Wilson, created the Ministry of Technology …