We seriously underinvest in direct public R&D investment relative to our competitors, and have done for almost 40 years. Increase Public R&D Investment Public investment is essential to a vibrant R&D system, but the UK public R&D budgets have been among the lowest of any comparable nation for almost 40 years. Public R&D financing is the most reliable predictor of private R&D investment globally, with £1 of public R&D expenditure reliably crowding in £2.5 of private R&D funds at the overall national level. Technical recommendation: Increase direct public R&D investment, aiming to become the leader among comparable nations in the metric of public R&D investment as a share of GDP within five years. Further, it is important to realise that the resulting increase in private R&D investment occurs at the national level, not on an investment-by-investment basis.

Source: The Times February 21, 2023 15:44 UTC