Public funding boosts R&D spend and private investment, finds BIS

Government funding to support innovation in the UK brings in around 30 per cent extra in private funding, an analysis by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has said.

The report Estimating the Effect of UK Direct Public Support for Innovation was published on 5 November. It looks at how direct government innovation grant programmes affect innovation in the UK, as well as their impact on the UK economy. It found that government support "substantially increases" the innovation performance of UK firms.

In particular, companies, except micro-businesses, were found to increase their spending on R&D by an average of 30 per cent if they received government grants. Companies receiving grants were also more likely to employ science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates, to collaborate with each other and to engage in product innovation, according to BIS.