UK Grid Computing innovation questioned in the House of Lords

Monday 21 July 2008

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills answered a question from the Liberal Democrat, Lord Dykes about the international comparison of the growth of grid computing techniques and innovations in the United Kingdom.

Her answer included a reference to the National Grid Service, operated by STFC e-Science: "A national grid service (NGS) has been developed with the main support for the NGS currently provided through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) supported Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) currently provides support to this service via JISC and has contributed 50 per cent of the costs for the two-year period 2007-09. It is also now considering the role that the NGS can have in enabling leading research groups to carry out high-quality research in the UK.".

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin also noted that "The Technology Strategy Board is also currently developing a UK technology strategy for information and communication technologies, which will cover grid computing among other technologies, methodologies and models."