The role of the Information Technology Division of the DTI

The aim of the DTI´s Information Technology (IT) Division is to stimulate IT research and development and to promote the effective use of IT throughout the UK economy. The ultimate purpose is to improve the productivity and competitiveness of UK IT users and suppliers, thereby contributing to the DTI´s objective of fostering a market environment which results in satisfied customers and prosperous producers. The specific role of division is to work in a way which stimulates and promotes wider partnership activities. The aim is to collaborate fully with others, and to encourage collaboration between industry and academe. This mode of operation ensures that the division achieves a `much bigger bang for its buck´, through more active support for IT than its own staff and programme budget could alone achieve. IT Division´s closest collaborator is the Science & Engineering Research Council (SERC). The two organisations come together in the Joint Framework for Information Technology (JFIT), the working mechanism through which Government´s support for the IT community, from academic researcher to ultimate user, is delivered