United Kingdom's Industrial Strategy Will Ramp Up R&D Funding

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports that the United Kingdom (UK) spends less on R&D as a fraction of its GDP than many of its competitors such as the U.S., Germany, and France, with most coming from non-government sources. However, the UK has recently announced its industrial strategy which includes an additional $9.3B in R&D spending over the next five years toward its longer-term plan to nearly double the nation’s investment in R&D as a fraction of its GDP.

According to the “Industrial Strategy” white paper to boost Britain’s economy through improved productivity and technological change and innovation, a critical ingredient is more R&D investment which would jump to 2.4 percent by the year 2017 from 1.7 percent with the longer-term goal of reaching 3 percent to match Europe 2020 strategy target for R&D outlined in the LAB, FAB, APP: INVESTING IN THE FUTURE WE WANT—A EUROPEAN COMMISSION REPORT previously reported in the August 25th edition of Capitol Update.

In 2019 when the United Kingdom plans to leave the EU, it is unclear how it will maintain its research and innovation partnerships with its EU counterparts. However, the UK is one of the largest recipients of Horizon 2020 (H2020) funding, the EU’s current flagship research funding mechanism.

To download the UK’s Industrial Strategy please visit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/664563/industrial-strategy-white-paper-web-ready-version.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=FYI&dm_i=1ZJN,5CID7,E29O8W,KNOR5,1