Science investmentResearch reconfirms that public investment in scientific research promotes growth
New and independent research has reconfirmed and quantified some of the economic and societal benefits of public investment in scientific research. The report says that for every £1 spent by the U.K. government on R&D, private sector R&D output rises by 20p per year in perpetuity, by raising the level of the U.K. knowledge base.
New and independent research has reconfirmed and quantified some of the economic and societal benefits of public investment in scientific research.
The Economic Significance of the U.K. Science Base, written for the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), and funded by the Institute of Physics (IOP) and five other partner societies, looks in detail at the relationship between public funding of science and engineering and economic activity.
An IOP release reports that the research finds that public investment in scientific research leads to economic growth through an increase in private sector productivity, and creates beneficial economic and societal impacts through increased interaction between the academic and private sectors.
The report says that for every £1 spent by the government on R&D, private sector R&D output rises by 20p per year in perpetuity, by raising the level of the U.K. knowledge base.
The report was written by Prof. Jonathan Haskel of Imperial College Business School, and Prof. Alan Hughes and Elif Bascavusoglu-Moreau, both of the University of Cambridge.
— Read more in Jonathan Haskel, Alan Hughes, and Elif Bascavusoglu-Moreau, The Economic Significance of the U.K. Science Base (U.K. innovation Research Center, Cambridge University, Imperial College London, March 2014)
