National Enterprise Board - History

History

The National Enterprise Board was set up in the United Kingdom in 1975 to implement the Wilson Labour government's objective of extending public ownership of industry. The plans were outlined in the 1974 White Paper The Regeneration of British Industry and the Industry Act 1975 enacted these measures, establishing the NEB.

One of the first activities of the NEB was the Ryder Report, named for the NEB's new chairman, on the future of the British Leyland Motor Corporation.

After the Conservative Party took power in 1979 under Margaret Thatcher's leadership, the NEB's powers began to be eroded. The last Labour-appointed chairman of the NEB was Sir Leslie Murphy, who resigned with his entire board when Sir Keith Joseph (the new industry minister) decided to remove its responsibility for the government's holding in Rolls-Royce.

The next chairman was Sir Arthur Knight who was content to lose a number of companies, but strongly supported the Inmos microchip project. However he eventually became frustrated by the government and resigned in November 1980. He was succeeded by his deputy, Sir John King (now Lord King of Wartnaby), who proceeded, with some vigour, to dismantle most of the board's remaining activities.

The NEB had a software initiative called INSAC. The memory and microprocessor company Inmos was set up by the NEB in 1978.

In 1981, the NEB was combined with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to form the British Technology Group (BTG). The NRDC had been founded in 1948 by Attlee's Labour government to commercialise British publicly funded research.

In 1991 BTG was transferred to the private sector and, as BTG plc, has become a leading technology transfer company that commercialises intellectual property acquired from research organisations and companies around the world.