British Launches 10-year Science & Innovation Investment Plan

Science Spending to Rise £1B Over Next 3 Years Alone

"..because we want Britain to be the most attractive location in the world for science and innovation, we are setting a new and ambitious target of increasing UK R&D investment as a proportion of national income from its current level of 1.9 percent to 2.5 percent by 2014 over the next decade."

The quote is from the first page of the United Kingdom's new Science & Innovation Investment Framework: 2004-2014, which lays out a specific and ambitious commitment to strengthening the nation's position as both a center for knowledge creation and as a world leader in technology commercialization.

Toward these goals, the government's spending for science and research will increase annually at a real, average rate of 5.7 percent during the next three years to more than £5.3 billion. In addition, the framework outlines steps to increase business investment in research from its current level equal to 1.25 percent of Gross Domestic Product to 1.7 percent by the end of the decade. Total UK-based research currently approximates £22.5 billion.

Achieving the target 2.5 percent of GDP will require government, business and foundation research investment to maintain the 5.8 percent annual growth rate throughout the 10-year plan. That steady rise stands in direct contrast to the three-year slide for the same statistic in the U.S., according to a graph prepared by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). National R&D investments in 2003 were approximately 2.6 of the U.S. GDP, AAAS reports.

There is no equivalent science or innovation strategy for the U.S. federal government. Several other countries, however, have prepared national plans in place to increase either research spending or public investment toward technology commercialization and innovation or some combination of both.

Another fascinating element of the British report without an American equivalent is the recommendation-by-recommendation government response to a critical, yet constructive, high-level report on university-business linkages in the United Kingdom that was published last winter. (see "Lambert Review Suggests Ways for Businesses, Universities to Boost UK Economy" in the March 19, 2004 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest.)

In addition, the strategy lays out the economic case for investment in science and research in the first annex or appendix, citing several reports, studies and statistics documenting the impact of public science and technology spending.

The nearly 200-page framework outlines a comprehensive plan to instill science and innovation into all levels of education, to increase university research, technology transfer and commercialization. Specific goals, milestones to mark progress, and rationales for each are provided as well. The full framework is available at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/spending_review/spend_sr04/associated_documents/spending_sr04_science.cfm