A call for closer collaboration between manufacturing industry and academic sources of innovation to reverse Britain's declining share of worldwide investment in high‐technology research and development, and to stem the flood of British inventions to competitive countries, has been made by the Chairman of Grand Metropolitan plc. Announcing his company's plans to build a £1 million Innovation Development Centre on the Surrey University Research Park at Guildford, he said that while British inventions still proliferated, too many were being forced overseas through lack of funding by UK industries, or failed because the inventor was unable or unwilling to concentrate on the commercial development of his idea.