Future directions for the research-policy interface

Future directions for the research-policy interface

Reported by Christian Neubacher, Policy Engagement Planning Coordinator

The Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) 2024 Annual Conference concluded with an engaging panel discussion moderated by Hetan Shah, the Chief Executive of the British Academy, on future directions for the research-policy interface in the United Kingdom. Shah was joined by William Cullerne Bown, a former adviser to Chi Onwurah, Andrew Westwood, a Professor of Government Practice at the University of Manchester, and Anna Vignoles, the Director of the Leverhulme Trust.

To listen to the discussion see below:

Opening Remarks

William Cullerne Bown opened the panel by setting the stage for how a new UK government could spark greater growth and investment into the high-tech sector, highlighting important lessons from the experience of Silicon Valley in the United States. Unlike firms in Silicon Valley, Cullerne Bown argued that UK tech firms lack sufficient capital and are often outcompeted or acquired by US firms. He noted that this acquisition process is a key strength for Silicon Valley as if the US lacks a particular technological niche, its firms are instead able to acquire the technology from abroad. To solve these challenges, Cullerne Bown stressed the importance of mobilising more capital, moving more quickly as new technologies emerge, and pushing more resources into high-tech firms and industries.

Building upon Cullerne Bown’s points, Andrew Westwood argued that sparking greater growth and investment required a rewiring of UK governance structures. He noted that having a growth and industrial strategy would be a priority for the next government, with a consensus emerging that the government needs to act as an active shaper of the economy. An important pillar of such a strategy would include place-based industrial policies, which have re-emerged as an in-vogue policy tool for achieving social and economic objectives in the European Union and the US. Importantly, Westwood stressed the need for ensuring that current institutions, including government ministries such as the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, can deliver upon new policy goals.

Anna Vignoles concluded the opening session by emphasising the importance of human capital in addressing current policy challenges. She pointed out that the UK has a substantial strength in fundamental science research, and translating this strength into new, innovative firms requires greater and better allocated investment into people. She also noted that a key challenge for addressing human capital shortcomings is ensuring that the UK remains a destination of choice for university students and workers from abroad. In addition, Vignoles emphasised the need to start investing in home-grown talent earlier in the school system to help better prepare future university graduates.

Panel Discussion, chaired by Hetan Shah

Addressing the challenges highlighted by each panellist permeated the subsequent discussion. Shah began by posing a critical question of what may be different today from prior attempts to address long-standing growth and investment concerns. The panellists agreed that the United Kingdom’s “back is against the wall”, and that preconceived notions about the UK’s place within the global economic order are being upended by external factors. Taken together, this has clarified the challenges facing the UK, thereby making the course of action moving forward clearer.

Following Shah, panellists took questions from the audience. One question pushed back upon the notion that just because other countries are subscribing to industrial policies that the UK must therefore follow suit. Cullerne Bown stressed the importance of reacting to these global trends, while Westwood noted that governments often sit in between the extremes of pure free markets and picking winners, and that growth strategies can therefore be used to better tailor government policy.

One audience member raised the question of how climate investments fit into the increased discussions on growth for the next government. Westwood argued that climate change is front and centre to industrial policy, while Vignoles stated that net zero investments could be viewed similarly to the large-scale investments which followed the Second World War. She also built upon Westwood’s point to argue that given the inherent interdisciplinarity of the net zero transition, greater investments in skills to resolve these intersecting demands is critical.

Further, as the next government develops its priorities, the government will also need to take into consideration how the UK will position itself internationally within this context of increasingly state-led economic interventions. The more prominent role of defence policy, embracing the UK’s strength in the arts, and leaning into R&D were three key points which the panellists raised. Bringing together questions of how to re-tool investment, governance structures, and human capital investments, the concluding panel of the CSaP 2024 Annual Conference provided a thorough overview of how the next UK government may rethink its research-policy interface.

Image by Su Ford, CSaP Centre Coordinator