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
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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
by the
Defence Research Establishments {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022
The Defence Research Establishments were a number of separate UK Ministry of Defence Research Establishments, dating back to World War II, World War I, or even earlier. Each establishment had its own head; known as t ...
.
[Cold War, Hot Science by Robert Budd, Page 373]
/ref> It was set up by the Board of Trade under the Development of Inventions Act 1948 and the first managing director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
was Lord Giffard.
The NRDC was established in India in 1953 to help develop and promote technologies developed at various national R&D institutions.Saunders-Roe
Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight.
History
The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a c ...
in 1958.
In 1981, the NRDC was combined with the National Enterprise Board
The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Ma ...
('NEB') to form the British Technology Group ('BTG').
Operations
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
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
, asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
-plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
composite
Composite or compositing may refer to:
Materials
* Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances
** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts
** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials
...
s and developments in semi-conductor
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
.[
The development of the hovercraft would also not have taken place without the involvement of the NRDC.
In the 1970s, a team of ]Rothamsted Research
Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843. It is located at Harp ...
scientists discovered three pyrethroids
A pyrethroid is an organic compound similar to the natural pyrethrins, which are produced by the flowers of pyrethrums (''Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium'' and '' C. coccineum''). Pyrethroids are used as commercial and household insecticides.
In ...
suitable for use as insecticides
Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed t ...
, namely permethrin
Permethrin is a medication and an insecticide. As a medication, it is used to treat scabies and lice. It is applied to the skin as a cream or lotion. As an insecticide, it can be sprayed onto clothing or mosquito nets to kill the insects th ...
, cypermethrin
Cypermethrin (CP) is a synthetic pyrethroid used as an insecticide in large-scale commercial agricultural applications as well as in consumer products for domestic purposes. It behaves as a fast-acting neurotoxin in insects. It is easily degrad ...
and deltamethrin
Deltamethrin is a pyrethroid ester insecticide. Deltamethrin plays a key role in controlling malaria vectors, and is used in the manufacture of long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets; however, resistance of mosquitos and bed bugs to deltamethri ...
. These compounds were subsequently licensed as NRDC 143, 149 and 161 respectively, to companies which then manufactured them for use worldwide.
List of chairmen
* 1950–1955: Percy Mills, 1st Viscount Mills
Percy Herbert Mills, 1st Viscount Mills, (4 January 1890 – 10 September 1968), known as Sir Percy Mills, Bt, between 1953 and 1957 and as The Lord Mills between 1957 and 1962, was a British industrialist, public servant and politician.
Backgrou ...
* 1955–1957: Sir Alan Arthur Saunders
* 1957–1969: William Black, Baron Black
William Rushton Black (12 January 189327 December 1984) was a coachbuilder born in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria on 12 January 1893.
After education at Barrow Secondary school and Barrow Technical College he was apprenticed as an engineer to Vicke ...
* 1969–1979: Frank Schon, Baron Schon
Frank Schon, Baron Schon (18 May 1912 – 7 January 1995) was an Austrian-born British industrialist and life peer, who served as Chairman of the National Research Development Corporation between 1969 and 1979.
Biography
Schon was born in Vienn ...
See also
*National Enterprise Board
The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Ma ...
* Minister of Technology
*Alvey
The Alvey Programme was a British government sponsored research programme in information technology that ran from 1984 to 1990. The programme was a reaction to the Japanese Fifth Generation project, which aimed to create a computer using massi ...
References
{{reflist
Further reading
* 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
* National Archive for the History of Computing, University of Manchester
Economy of the United Kingdom
Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom
Research and development in the United Kingdom
1948 establishments in the United Kingdom