Science and technology are vital to us all. They play a key role in our day-to-day lives and in the global economy. They create wealth and jobs. They improve the quality of life and, indeed, help to save lives. Yet paradoxically it is becoming harder to persuade young people to study these subjects.

It is a further paradox that while little interest is shown in learning the basics of science and technology many youngsters spend a large part of their time locked in to some of the products of the technological age, principally mobile telephones and computer games which can, in fact, be very useful educational tools.

So it makes sense to try to use that involvement as a springboard to inspire a greater interest and the desire to learn, which is the aim of a two-year scheme about to be launched at the University of Bradford with the help of a research grant of £40,000 from the European Union's "GRID consortium" project - the acronym standing for Growing Interest in the Development of Science Education.

It is to be hoped that Bradford's primary and secondary schools respond well and take full advantage of the project's possibilities.

It says a lot for the university's reputation that it has been chosen as the sole UK institution to take part in this Europe-wide initiative. That reputation, particularly in the chemistry and IT departments, has also been praised by cricket legend Imran Khan who is to be the new chancellor of the University of Bradford.

His public endorsement of the value of those subjects can only help the GRID project to get off to a flying start in the city.