Science and Innovation Policy: Key themes and examples

Direct public funding for research

  • Long term funding plan for science
  • Making the right choices about  what research to fund, evaluating it, assessing impact and promoting open access
  • Ensuring accountability by the research councils and the research community to each other and to the public
  • Professionalising research, ensuring research careers welcome diversity and researchers can build long term career paths
  • Procurement to derisk research through programmes like the SBRI
  • Working with the European Union to support and improve its research funding

 

Valuing science & engineering in society

  • Representation of science and engineering in the media
  • Valuing non-graduate STEM eg technical baccalaureate, engineering diploma, apprentices
  • Prizes & status for STEM achievements eg support for QE prize,
  • Valuing science and engineering professionally eg creating a protected title for engineers
  • Valuing technology & science education
  • Valuing science and engineering in Government : tracking the number of scientists and engineers and career progression.

 

Translating science & innovation into growth and jobs

  • Catapult centres  – Formal review in year or so to ensure the model is successful
  • Targetting tax credits at the development we want to promote
  • Finance for small, innovative businesses, right balance between debt and VC, expansion of SBRI
  • Helping university regional research hubs achieve critical mass for sharing of infrastructure etc
  • Promoting exchange between universities and industry, for example professorships & one year industrial fellowships for engineers and enabling academics to spend time in industry
  • Driving technology and innovation understanding in SMEs and management
  • Support, promote and ease market ‘pull’ for technology

 

Incentivising industry to invest in innovation

  • Promoting long termism in company cultures
  • Reporting to measure innovation
  • Targetting tax credits where they make the most difference
  • Promoting exchange between public and private as in the DARPA model eg secondments.

 

Targetting key sectors

  • Wide engagement to identify key areas eg Foresight
  • Green industries
  • Life sciences
  • Space
  • Automotive

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