Turning the UK into an innovation superpower

Abstract

It was one of the real inflection points for the business when we got our first grant," recalls Neill Ricketts, the CEO of Versarien, an advanced materials business based in Cheltenham. "It shows a level of credibility to our investors and proves what you're working on is valid". Versarien's grant came from Innovate UK, one of the country's big sources of R&D funding, and an important lifeline for businesses like Versarien. Private companies, academic researchers and scientists working on cutting-edge technologies often rely on funding to pay for some or all of their R&D. Without this kind of support, most would run out of cash before being able to turn potentially revolutionary ideas into marketable products.Currently, however, the UK falls behind other comparable countries on R&D spending and support. World Bank data shows we spend about 1.7 per cent of GDP on R&D, compared with 2.2 per cent in France, 2.8 per cent in the USA, 3.1 per cent in Germany, 4.8 per cent in South Korea and 5 per cent in Israel (the highest spender).