Last night Minister of State for Universities and Science Jo Johnson presented at the CaSE Annual Lecture. The event was open for free to those who registered, and took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Jo Johnson began his speech by clearly stating the Government’s support for science and innovation, stating the the Spending Review demonstrates science sits ‘at the very heart of this government’s economic plan’. He presented various UK successes supporting the Government’s innovative outlook, saying ‘our global scientific impact far exceeds our size as a nation’ and that ‘with just 3.2% of the world’s R&D spend, the UK accounts for 16% of the most highly-cited research articles’ now overtaking the US.
Johnson returned to the Spending Review, stating that it spelt out Government’s commitment to protect the science budget in what he called ‘a decade of protection’: ‘And all this in the context of significant savings in other areas of expenditure, a clear sign of the place of science in our decision-making.’ The emphasis on closer partnerships between the research community and industries, as well as the call for greater collaboration, pointed to the Government manifesto that sees the business environment as key to research, productivity and innovation. It is an investment which should get the best possible return, on behalf of the taxpayers, Johnson suggested.
Johnson then moved on to the Government’s decision to implement the Nurse Review, recognising opportunities raised in the review such as:
- freeing up scientific leadership to focus on the research
- reducing the duplication between funding bodies
- improving support for multi-disciplinary research
- and responding much more effectively to major global challenges
In terms of schedule, Johnson said that the Government’s intention is to ‘formally allocate budgets to individual funding bodies by mid-February’ so that the ‘research community will then have the opportunity to feed in to Research Council and Innovate UK delivery plans towards 2020.’
The speech closed quite surprisingly with the mention of the Referendum, albeit without mentioning the word itself. Johnson stated that while we ‘have the investment, the infrastructure and the people’ and while there are no doubts ‘Britain could stay a science player outside of the EU’, he recognised the benefits of our relationship with Europe:
‘Indeed, our links with Europe are deep and longstanding. Free movement of people makes it easier for our universities to attract the best talent, and for British students to spread their wings across the continent, as I was able to do as a student at institutions in France and Belgium. Over 125,000 EU students are studying at UK universities, and over 200,000 British students have ventured overseas on the Erasmus exchange programme (UUK). I want many more to have the opportunities to study overseas that I enjoyed.’
Speaking in tune with the PM, he repeated ‘there is a real need for reform’ and that ‘we need to take Britain out of “ever closer union”. He closed with the statement, ‘In the end, the British people will decide whether we are safer, stronger and better off as part of the EU, but our future security as a knowledge economy hinges on this decision.’
The main take home message of the speech was that the Government is committed to protecting R&D evidenced through the science budget, and see it as a major investment which will secure UK’s global competitiveness. Meanwhile, in line with the rhetoric of our time, Johnson emphasised the importance of collaboration, partnership, and business-research relations globally.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Today HEPI has published – as promised – a document of their most recent annual lecture where Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education at the OECD, gave a keynote speech. The paper, Value-Added: How do you measure whether universities are delivering for their students?, will be discussed in tomorrow’s Global BUzz.