UK science spending up, but not enough to meet Lisbon target

UK Chancellor Gordon Brown: more money for science.

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, announced a range of measures to improve the country’s record on innovation, including a 25 per cent increase in the science budget to £6.3 million by 2010, a further £100 million in R&D tax credits, new incentives for companies to invest in R&D, and a £00 million fund for commercialising academic research, in his annual budget yesterday.

While it has never explicitly said it does not agree with Lisbon, the UK government does not hold to the 3 per cent objective. Indeed, with current expenditure standing at just less than 2 per cent of GDP this would be extremely exacting.

Instead, Brown has set the target that public and private sector R&D spending in the UK will reach 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2014.

Brown said his overall aim is to raise the quantity and quality of investment, not just in physical capital, but human, scientific and intellectual capital too. “My view is that in all advanced economies, public and private investment in the great new drivers of growth – innovation and education – will need to rise towards 10 per cent of national income.”

He claimed that the R&D tax credit has been very important in persuading companies to spend more on R&D. There were more than 6,000 claims in 2004 – 2005, worth £600 million, and since it was introduced in 2000, companies have had rebates worth £1.8 billion.

“As innovation becomes more important in global competition R&D tax credits play an even greater role,” said Brown, announcing the current rate of 150 per cent for small companies will be increased to 175 per cent, and for large companies from 125 perc ent to 130 per cent.

Brown also unveiled a range of measures to increase the reach of the Technology Strategy Board in its brief to promote innovation across all sectors of the economy. Some of the measures draw on early conclusions of a review of the UK’s science and innovation policies, being carried out currently by the former science minister David Sainsbury.

More power to stimulate innovation

These include an increase in the power of the Technology Strategy Board, which will now be given a wider remit to stimulate business innovation. The TSB will take over responsibility for the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, set up to translate skills or knowledge from the research base to business. It will also expand its reach to cover innovation in the creative industries.

The UK Research Councils have been told to increase the amount of collaborative research they conduct with business by increasing their investment in TSB programmes.

The TSB will allocate a further £100 million to these collaborative programmes. To date it has approved over 600 R&D projects at a cost of £900 million since the board was launched in 2004. This new money will include substantial funding for larger projects to maximise economic impact.

Of the £100 million, £40 million will be dedicated to advanced manufacturing projects, including design engineering technology, in sectors including aerospace, vehicles and energy; £15 million for energy technologies, including renewable low-carbon options and ensuring the continued production of hydrocarbon reserves; £15 million for lightweight materials; £5 million for plastic electronics; £7 million to areas of medicine which bring together advanced materials, nanotechnology, tissue engineering with surgical and clinical sciences; and £8 million for ICT to develop new networking technologies.

A further £100 million for research into low carbon technology was announced also. Brown said that the UK will set up a competition to build the first full-scale carbon capture and storage scheme.

Alistair Darling, Trade and Industry Secretary said that depleted oil and gas fields in the North Sea are suitable for storage. "Carbon capture and storage has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power stations by up to 90 percent and contribute 20 percent of global CO2 mitigation by 2050.”

Details of the competition will be announced in an energy white paper in May.

Also showing the green credentials, Brown set the objective for the UK to take a lead in developing next generation low and no-carbon vehicles and fuels. He has commissioned a report on the prospects for research in the area.