Both industry and academia in the UK are worried that plans to integrate the innovation agency Innovate UK and the seven research councils into a single body, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will create uncertainty and undermine innovation policy.
The formation of UKRI is currently under debate as part of a higher education and research bill, which is awaiting its second reading in the House of Commons.
But following an investigation into the future of Innovate UK within a single overarching body, the House of Lords committee on science and technology argues that further consultations are needed.
The process of turning the proposal into a bill has been “unsatisfactory” and stakeholders fear Innovate UK will lose its “business-facing focus”, the committee says.
Earlier this month the chair of the committee John Selborne wrote to science minister Jo Johnson citing, “Serious concerns about the integration of Innovate UK into UKRI.”
“The government’s case for integration appears to be based on a flawed linear model of innovation where Innovate UK functions as the commercialisation arm of the Research Councils,” said Selborne.
The letter, accompanied by evidence given to the committee, urges the government to rethink the proposal, and incorporate safeguards against uncertainties produced by the results of the EU referendum.
As one case in point, Jackie Hunter, former head of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and now chief executive of a small biotech company, Stratified Medical, told the committee, “There is a risk that Innovate UK will lose its business focus.”
Hunter said the education bill is unclear about Innovate UK’s autonomy and ring-fenced funding. “The last thing you want is for businesses to disinvest because of the lack of clarity,” she said. Part of Innovate UK’s budget should be dedicated to business-led projects, Hunter said.
Academics, on the other hand are concerned that integrating research and innovation will mean less funding for basic research and undermine the hallowed Haldane Principle, which holds that the government has no say on what areas of science national research funding is spent.
Ruth McKernan, chief executive of Innovate UK suggested stakeholders should look at the big opportunities and focus on those. The merger will enable Innovate UK to become, “more ambitious in the programmes that we run that are business-led and to which universities can contribute,” she said.
McKernan told the House of Lords committee that industry would prefer to deal with one simplified organisation. Safeguards can be put in place to protect the interests of industry, “As we go through the construction of the board, the chair, the chief executive and the details of the bill.”
The plan to create a single overarching body for research and innovation funding has been defended by Johnson, who said it will help fix structural problems in UK’s research and innovation sectors, boost multidisciplinarity and enable faster routes from lab to market.
With Brexit looming, UKRI, “Will serve as a single, overarching and protective funding body that operates at arm’s length from government and provides a strong voice for the research and innovation community,” Johnson said.
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