National Research Development Corporation
The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) was a non-departmental government body established by the British Government to transfer technology from the public sector to the private sector.
History[edit]
The NRDC was established by Attlee's Labour government in 1948 to meet a perceived need at the time to exploit the many products that had been developed during World War II by the Defence Research Establishments.[1] The first managing director was Lord Giffard.
The NRDC was established in India in 1953 to help develop and promote technologies developed at various national R&D institutions.[2]
The first commercial size hovercraft, the SR-N1, was built under a contract let by the NRDC to Saunders-Roe in 1958.[3]
In 1981, the NRDC was combined with the National Enterprise Board ('NEB') to form the British Technology Group ('BTG').
Operations[edit]
Typically the NRDC would patent the product for commercial exploitation and earn royalties as private sector companies generated sales from those products.
Examples of such products include carbon fibre, asbestos-plastic composites and developments in semi-conductor technology.[1]
The development of the hovercraft would also not have taken place without the involvement of the NRDC.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Cold War, Hot Science by Robert Budd, Page 373
- ^ Reddy, Prashant (20 May 2012). "CSIR Tech. Pvt. Ltd: Its controversial past and its uncertain future". SpicyIP.com. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- ^ Barties World
- ^ Hovercraft Development Ltd, Hansard, 1966
Further reading[edit]
- Lavington, Simon. "NRDC and the Market." Moving Targets, History of Computing (2011): 147-191.
- John Crawley (1993) NRDC’s role in the early British computer industry. Resurrection, the Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society, issue number 8, winter 1993, pp 25–32
- Crawley HJ (1957) The National Research Development Corporation Computer Project. NRDC Computer Sub-Committee, paper 132, Feb 1957.
Source documents[edit]
- National Archive for the History of Computing, University of Manchester
