Special Plenary Details

Properly implemented, a strategic planning process, where the emphasis is clearly on innovation and creativity, can help an organisation do more than plan for the future; it can help to create its future.

his lecture describes how simple visual planning tools can be useful in identifying strategic issues of importance and help to provide a consistent discipline for decision and policy matters. Examples are taken from industry and academe to illustrate this theme.

The past two years have seen significant improvements in funding for Physics in the United Kingdom, with a commensurate enhancement in the public and governmental appreciation of the benefits of Physics research. The Institute of Physics has been particularly active in lobbying Government and 'decision makers' through a series of 'Vision Papers' which highlight the importance to knowledge, wealth creation and quality of life of various aspects of physics research. A series of seminars was organised aimed at bringing to a wider audience news of developments in our subject and also an intensive campaign to increase press coverage. This has happened at a time when the Institute's membership has increased apace and it now stands at over 30,000 - more than double what it was in 1990.