R&D spending target in danger, peers told

Implementing the Augar review’s recommendations without making up the funding shortfall would severely undermine progress towards the government’s target of spending 2.4 per cent of GDP on R&D by 2027, according to leading figures at UK Research and Innovation.

David Sweeney, executive chair at Research England, told peers that UKRI would find it difficult to make up any funding shortfall at universities, given the resources it has. 

“[UKRI] would certainly consider different scenarios for the allocation of its resources but all of those, I think, would severely undermine the government’s commitment to 2.4 per cent of [the UK’s] GDP being invested in research and innovation,” he said.