Science and innovation policy for hard times: an overview of the UK’s Research and Development landscape

The UK is the mid-term of a government that has placed a lot of emphasis on science and innovation for the future of the country. There has been a lot of rhetorical ambition, and some snappy slogans (“science superpower”, “innovation nation”). There has also been a lot of change in the way the nation’s science system is wired up, and much of that change is yet to work through.
This paper is an overview of where this process of change has got to, and what is yet to evolve. It is in nine parts, covering:

• The wider challenges the UK government faces, asking what problems need science and innovation system to contribute to solving.
• How the UK’s science and innovation system works.
• The history and future of the UK’s Research and Development (R&D) system.
• Realistic aspirations for the UK’s science and innovation system.
• Government support for Business R&D through the tax system
• UK Research and Innovation and the agencies that allocate R&D money on behalf of the government
• The other UK R&D investment channel: Government and Departmental Research
• The UK’s future in the Horizon Europe research programme, and the potential of the new agency, ARIA.
• Science and innovation policy for hard times: understanding the UK’s place in the world

This paper is drawn from a series of blogs first published on the author’s personal website, Soft Machines.