Foreword from Vince Cable and David Willetts...

The UK has a global reputation for Innovation and Research. Our knowledge base, which includes renowned universities and research institutes, is the most productive among the G8. We have a proud record of invention – from the creation of life-saving medicines to the development of the internet.

This Strategy builds on the UK’s recognised strengths, and sets out how we will work with business and the knowledge base to underpin private sector led growth. We have already made clear our commitment to the UK knowledge base by maintaining the annual £4.6 billion budget for science and research programmes, with £150 million each year supporting university-business interaction which in turn benefits clusters, through Higher Education Innovation Funding.

The UK’s universities are increasingly collaborating with each other and with external organisations to develop and commercialise knowledge, last year securing over £3 billion from external sources. Going further, we intend to maximise the impact of our research base on economic growth and have committed an additional £495 million to capital projects in support of this aim since January 2011. Additionally the Research Councils will develop a web based ‘Gateway to Research’ which will allow ready access to Research Council funded research information and related data.

We are launching a series of technology and innovation centres under the name Catapult – facilities which will commercialise innovation and research to be competitive on the world stage. Three centres – for high value manufacturing, cell therapy and offshore renewable energy – are confirmed, with three more in the pipeline to be established by April 2013. Separately, as part of the extra £495 million capital investment, we have announced dedicated funding for graphene and high-performance computing so the UK can stay at the forefront of these technologies. We will also extend the success of
London Tech City to other parts of the country through the Launchpad initiative, encouraging the growth of more innovation clusters.

We will improve incentives for companies to innovate – especially SMEs.Beyond our successful changes to the SME R&D Tax Credit, we will invest an additional £75 million to support small business innovation including additional funding for Smart, grants that support SME research and development. We will implement a new innovation voucher programme, enabling SMEs to engage with universities and wider external knowledge base providers, and will invest more in the Small Business Research Initiative, helping more SMEs to win government contracts for their innovative products and services. Additionally we will increase our funding to support design driven innovation. We will also encourage large company research and development by making the R&D Tax Credit ‘above the line’ from April 2013.

More widely, we will support innovation and research collaboration overseas, focussing on hot spots and high growth economies, starting with China and India. In particular, we will prioritise securing greater European finance to support R&D by UK businesses. This strategy is based upon an understanding that Government can be an important driver of innovation. We will support independent bodies, like the Technology Strategy Board, to intervene when the market is unable to foster innovation alone in critical technologies or sectors. More commonly, we will work with the grain of the market by getting rid of unnecessary red tape, making public sector data more accessible and establishing a fund to run inducement prizes in areas where innovation is needed.

The Coalition Government is putting innovation and research at the heart of its growth agenda. Innovation is essential to competitiveness and higher living standards. Through greater investment and increased collaboration, we will make sure that the UK has a promising future.