A sense of place

To get to 2.4 per cent, the regions must play their role

If you want to do a lot more research, you need a lot more researchers. This truism has been muttered in the past when the government’s target to massively hike the amount the UK spends on research has been discussed.

Now it has come from the horse’s mouth, with science minister Chris Skidmore putting a figure of 260,000 out there for the number of new researchers the country will need if it is to increase R&D spend to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027.