The Science and Technology Committee welcomes the Government's £200 million commitment for an elite network of Technology and Innovation Centres (TICs) but warns that the money should not be spread too thinly. An initial target of six to eight centres across the UK seems a sensible starting figure. The sources of funding for each centre need to be carefully balanced. TICs should follow the 'one third, one third, one third' model used by the equivalent centres in Germany, the Fraunhofer Institutes, which includes: one third public funding from government; one third competitive public-private sector funding i.e. UK or EU funding competitions ; one third from private sector contracts from businesses. The Committee recommends a cap on the amount of private sector funding each TIC can access in a given year in order to promote a more creative approach to innovation. TICs should build on existing facilities centres across the UK working on innovation and the commercialisation of research. In identifying which existing centres in the UK will become TICs, the primary objective must be the quality of the science and the economic benefit to the UK. The Committee is particularly attracted to the 'hub and spoke' model, as a way of spreading the economic benefit of TICs throughout the country. The possible effect of the TICs initiative on the wider funding activities of the Technology Strategy Board is a concern. The Committee recommends that the network of TICs be called 'Turing Centres', after the founder of modern computer science, Alan Turing.