Jeremy Hunt plans for UK to become a ‘science superpower’ – is this possible?

The UK’s science and technology sector survived a much feared spending cut in this week’s budget – but those in the field say the government will need to do more to realise the UK’s potential as a “science superpower.” The expectation was that this was going to be a budget of cuts, with the government’s previous pledge to double spending on research and development (R&D) an easy target. Instead, Jeremy Hunt made it clear, as previous chancellors have done, that boosting the UK’s high-tech industries was central to his plans for economic recovery. His plan, he told the Commons, was…