Business Secretary Vince Cable will give a speech today (Tuesday 22 July) that will highlight the government’s instrumental role in the boosting of innovation within the private sector.
Cable will say:
“Critical as it is to have a healthy, profitable private sector, it will not, on its own, generate large scale innovation in areas where there are higher risks and wider benefits.
“That requires a commitment to public investment in science and innovation.”
He is also expected to call for a doubling of the £500m from the Technology Strategy Board, saying:
“Doubling annual innovation spend could bring its resources closer to £1bn.
“It would enable the Catapult network to be deepened and widened and lift some of the crippling barriers to private funding.”
The Business Secretary will declare that we need to do more and put forward three separate schemes backed by the government with aims to increase science and engineering funding in order to compete in the global market.
The 3 Schemes
- The first scheme will involve giving £30m worth of funding to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as they launch to new research project that will involve g Rolls-Royce, Tata Steel and GKN to develop aero engines and identify issues in infrastructure.
- The second involves and agreement between the Medical Research Council and seven global drug firms, which will then enable UK researchers to gain access to a virtual library of pharmaceutical compounds.
- The third scheme involves a Norwich-based Centrum building costing £11.5m that is designed to facilitate businesses as they interact with scientists and researchers in the health sector.
Cable will add:
“They do not address the UK’s under-investment in innovation and they do not reflect the scale of the step-change we need to make.”
“Alongside tax incentives for R&D, public investment is also part of the solution to our chronic private sector under-investment.”
Source: Business Desk
Image source: Huffington Post