Tim Bradshaw suggests targeted ways for the upcoming budget to boost higher education and research
This coming week will bring what is likely to be the last major fiscal event before the general election. Voter-friendly measures are likely, and headlines are already being written about potential tax cuts.
What we probably won’t see are big new spending commitments for higher education and research, but there should still be some room for measures to help drive economic growth and to address other priorities, such as health and climate change, in which universities can play a key role.
The current government has already made a significant commitment to R&D, which should mean at least £20 billion being invested each year from 2024-25. Over the past few months, we have also seen UK readmission to the EU funding programmes Horizon Europe and Copernicus, and major investments in new supercomputing facilities. All of these have been incredibly welcome and indicate a major vote of confidence in research and innovation as vital catalysts for a healthier economy.
Similarly, the Russell Group—and the rest of the higher education sector—welcomed the findings of last year’s spin-out review, which drew much-needed attention to the enormous value of research commercialisation and the role universities, and their technology transfer teams, play in enabling new businesses to flourish.
But the review also highlighted funding gaps that prevent universities from growing this activity further, and this is one area where the chancellor could provide a boost from within his £20bn envelope.
For example, we were pleased to see the announcement of a £20 million proof-of-concept fund as a pilot initiative helping researchers take the step from a great idea to an operational business. But that fund won’t stretch very far, so we would hope to see it growing quickly to make the most of untapped potential in UK universities. We are particularly interested in the deep-tech space, where innovators may need additional support to de-risk their ideas for the best chance of being able to attract private investment, but where innovation could be transformational.
Investment returns
In general, funding for research and innovation is proven to provide an effective return on investment. In a recent report commissioned by the Russell Group, London Economics concluded that for every £1 invested in research at Russell Group universities, £8.50 is generated for the UK economy. Our research, commercialisation and knowledge exchange activities on their own supported more than 250,000 jobs and generated £37.6bn for the UK economy in 2021-22—or, in Treasury terms, more than £20.5bn in gross value added (GVA), which is about 1 per cent of total GVA in the UK economy.
So, if the government is looking to set a budget for growth and for a resilient future underpinned by highly trained researchers and innovators, investment in the research base should continue to be a key tool in its arsenal.
As well as the direct (and indirect) economic benefits, the UK should also be ambitious in terms of the potential for R&D to tackle major societal challenges. The sort of fundamental research our universities and partners do into genetics, proteomics or virology may not be an immediate vote winner on doorsteps come the election, but they will matter to future patients (many of whom will be current or future voters) if they enable the NHS to provide better and more targeted treatments in future.
Green solutions
Similarly, our sector has a huge role to play in making net zero targets a reality by developing, testing and implementing green solutions. Through collaborations with industry, universities are well-placed to do this work, which is already happening across the country.
Within the Russell Group, the University of Sheffield’s Translational Energy Research Centre is developing alternative fuels and innovative solutions for carbon capture and storage, working with leading firms including Boeing, while at Durham University, spin-out company Low Carbon Materials has partnered with National Highways to roll out the use of pioneering zero-carbon asphalt to decarbonise the road network.
The UK has the knowledge and research capabilities to be at the forefront of green innovation, supercharged by creative collaborations between academics and the public and private sectors. The budget presents an opportunity to accelerate these ambitions by prioritising government support through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.
For example, university estates can act as a perfect testbed for trialling infrastructure solutions—such as sustainable transportation, heating systems or waste reduction—before these are scaled up for use in the community. In turn, this would also help universities upgrade their facilities to be more efficient and work towards meeting their own net zero targets.
Future planning
One other low-cost thing the chancellor could help with is planning, or rather unsticking the planning system for universities (and their partners) looking to invest in new capital developments to enhance R&D and innovation capabilities and capacity. The system seems to work well in parts of the country and yet is grindingly slow elsewhere. Ideally, we would like to see all areas working fast to say ‘yes’ to economically beneficial R&D facilities that would not only futureproof universities’ ability to deliver impactful research but also help to create new high-tech business clusters and attract overseas investment.
Whatever is in the budget, a spending review—or maybe even two spending reviews—will follow in the next 12 months or so, depending on the timing of the election. The case will need to be made again for research, and for the longer-term funding needed to ensure sustainability in the higher education and research sector. But this government, and the next one, should know that universities are a key part of the UK’s competitive advantage, and are ambitious to do even more.
Tim Bradshaw is chief executive of the Russell Group