The Big Innovation Centre, part of Lancaster University and The Work Foundation, has called for an ambitiously targeted programme of investment in science, research and technology ahead of the Spending Review later this month.
The initiative has written a submission called A Manifesto for Innovation and Growth, pushing for £2bn investment in science, research and technology .
The report argues neither austerity nor traditional stimulus packages will be enough to deliver growth and suggests Chancellor George Osborne increase the budget for science, engineering and technology.
The report also advocates investment in underlying structure, such as superfast broadband, and funding a new form of industrial strategy to drive innovation.
Author of the report and senior economist at the Big Innovation centre, Charles Levy, said:
“The UK has great strengths in science and technology but it is failing to translate these into economic advantage, with the result that our competitors are racing ahead of us, particularly around new General Purpose Technologies such as Big Data and nanotechnologies. This is largely down to structural problems such as access to finance for innovation, missing infrastructure and weak national and local institutions.
“We are calling for £2bn of targeted investment aimed at tackling some of these dysfunctional elements in our economy.”
