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Nature 457, 958-959 (19 February 2009) | doi:10.1038/457958b; Published online 18 February 2009

Open Innovation Challenges

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Recession Watch: Learn to convince politicians

Ian Taylor1

  1. Ian Taylor, a member of the UK parliament, chairs the Conservative Party's task force on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering.
    Email: taylori@parliament.uk

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Scientists must be prepared to explain why research budgets need protecting when times are tough, says Ian Taylor.

The severity of the current economic downturn is much greater than when Britain last experienced a recession in the early 1990s. Yet there may be lessons to learn from that downturn.