The coming 10 years are almost certain to be the decade that sees the greatest scientific breakthroughs(突破) in a century. The question is whether advances now under way in AI, quantum computing and biology can address cancer, find ways to treat or prevent dementia, and overcome the growing resistance to antibiotics.(问题在于，人工智能、量子计算和生物学领域正在取得的进展，能否攻克癌症、找到治疗或预防痴呆症的方法，并克服日益严重的抗生素耐药性。) Can we find sustainable ways to address our energy needs and protect the environment at the same time? Can AI transform the way we deliver education, health and social care to the benefit of millions, as well as advance modern manufacturing strength? And what role can Britain’s inventors, investors and industrialists play in developing these transformative technologies?
未来十年几乎可以肯定将见证一个世纪以来最重大的科学突破。问题在于，人工智能、量子计算和生物学领域正在取得的进展，能否攻克癌症、找到治疗或预防痴呆症的方法，并克服日益严重的抗生素耐药性？我们能否找到可持续的方式，既满足能源需求又保护环境？人工智能能否改变我们提供教育、医疗和社会关怀的方式，造福数百万人，同时提升现代制造业实力？而英国的发明家、投资者和实业家，又能在开发这些变革性技术中扮演什么角色？
While the US and China are the world’s obvious innovation powerhouses(强国， powerhouse 的复数), the UK also has enormous assets, as the Innovation Nation Conference in Manchester addressed by the prime minister, Andy Burnham, will hear today. We are home to four of the world’s top 10 universities and 16 of the top 100, five of which are in Europe’s top 10 for spin-outs, startups based on intellectual property produced through a university’s research.(全球排名前十的大学中，英国占四所；排名前一百的大学中，英国占十六所，其中五所在欧洲衍生公司排名中位列前十——衍生公司即基于大学研究成果产生的知识产权而创立的初创企业。) With less than 1% of the world’s population, the UK produces 6% of the world’s research papers, nearly 9% of citations(引用量) and 12% of the most highly cited research.
尽管美国和中国显然是全球创新的强国，英国也拥有巨大的资产，今天在曼彻斯特举行的创新国家大会将听到这一点，首相安迪·伯纳姆将在会上致辞。全球排名前十的大学中，英国占四所；排名前一百的大学中，英国占十六所，其中五所在欧洲衍生公司（基于大学研究成果产生的知识产权而创立的初创企业）排名中位列前十。英国人口不足全球1%，却贡献了全球6%的研究论文、近9%的引用量和12%的高被引研究。
Our research expertise is one of the many reasons we have been at the forefront(前沿) of recent inventions: from AlphaFold(DeepMind 开发的蛋白质结构预测 AI), which predicts how proteins behave, to viral-vector(病毒载体的) vaccine technology and AI that detects cancer as reliably as radiologists(放射科医生). Britain already sits at the intersection of(在……的交汇点) AI, quantum computing and synthetic biology. The question then is: why, having led the first Industrial Revolution, should the UK not be the world’s great innovation nation once again?(那么问题来了：既然英国曾引领第一次工业革命，为什么不能再一次成为世界伟大的创新国家呢？)
我们的研究专长是我们近年来站在发明前沿的众多原因之一：从预测蛋白质行为的AlphaFold，到病毒载体疫苗技术，再到能像放射科医生一样可靠地检测癌症的人工智能。英国已经处于人工智能、量子计算和合成生物学的交汇点。那么问题来了：既然英国曾引领第一次工业革命，为什么不能再一次成为世界伟大的创新国家呢？