The UK is home to some of the most exciting scientific discoveries including the discovery of the structure of DNA and the creation of the World Wide Web.

With just 1% of the world's population, the UK receives over 12% of citations to published papers, almost 13% of papers with the highest impact and receives 10% of internationally recognised prizes each year.

The UK research base now ranks second only to the USA, with Oxford and Cambridge acknowledged as two of the world’s top three universities. Indeed the quality of academic institutions is the key to the UK’s R&D strength; eight of the world’s top 50 universities are based here.

Modern science cannot thrive in isolation, and if science is to progress there must be collaboration between Governments, interchange between international science communities and closer links between science and business globally. Therefore the Foreign and Commonwealth Office established a network of Science & Technology attachés in 2000 which is now managed by Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. The Network has more than 95 science officers in over 24 countries including USA, Japan, China and India.