R&D spending target will be met, Johnson says

The government intends to meet the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitment to increase spending on R&D to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027, science minister Jo Johnson has said.

Johnson addressed a large group of researchers, parliamentarians and policymakers at the Parliamentary Links Day 2017, an event organised by the Royal Society of Biology at Portcullis House on 26 June.

“We have acknowledged as a government that we have been underinvesting in R&D and we are, within the financial constraints we are operating in, doing our best to achieve a step change in the rate of investment,” he said. “We are absolutely committed to reaching that level as rapidly as we can within a decade.”