Speakers from the University of Cambridge and beyond provided insights into economic, political, and scientific changes needed to face the challenges posed by growth.

The UK has been had a leading position within the quantum space in part due to investments in the underpinning R&D over the past decade, however, we occupy a dynamic global landscape and other nations are developing their own national strategies and infrastructure and are emerging as players in the quantum race. Where then does the UK want to go next and what is its level of ambition?

Engineering and synthetic biology was the focus of an event for CSaP’s Dowling Policy Fellows and policy maker guests on 26 April 2024. Academics from four different disciplines underscored the transformative potential of bioengineering while emphasising the crucial need for responsible regulation and vigilance regarding emerging biosecurity risks.

UK National Technology Adviser, Dr David Smith, delivered CSaP's Annual Cleevely Lecture last month. He discussed the importance of products as a deliverable of innovation, and the steps that the UK is taking through its newly announced Science and Technology Framework to deliver security for innovators.

A discussion on the digitisation of services brought together a group of experts from Cambridge University to highlight some of the successes and failures in the implementation of digital transformation for public services.

Dr Eoin O'Sullivan, Centre for Science, Technology & Innovation Policy chaired a discussion with Dr Molly Morgan Jones, the British Academy, and Dan Shah, UKRI. The session focussed on how societal challenges feature in the UKRI and BA strategies, as well as the importance of working with other countries to tackle global challenges.

In a recent roundtable discussion at Jesus College, Professor Jenny Gibson and Professor Mark Girolami shed light on the transformative journey of Nesta and the Alan Turing Institute, as they made the shift towards mission and challenge-led innovation.

After a morning of individually tailored meetings with Cambridge academics, senior members of CSaP’s network convened for a talk by Julian Allwood, Professor of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Cambridge, presented around the theme of the day: “innovation in materials”.

The Centre for Science and Policy and Laura Diaz Anadon, Professor of Climate Change Policy at the University of Cambridge and Director of CEENRG, delivered a policy workshop on strengthening the UK’s innovation ecosystem in the energy space to meet the government’s net zero target.  

We've been working with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to host a series of workshops on ‘offshore floating complexes’ (OFCs) - theoretical floating settlements with the potential to be very large in scale. Could 'floating cities' ever become a reality?