Universities and
Science Minister David Willetts today released a series of reports
on the impact of Research Council funding during a speech at
Policy Exchange. This includes a report from Research Councils UK
and individual reports from the seven individual Research Councils.
David Willetts said:
"These reports demonstrate that the UK is a world leader
in science and research. From the development of groundbreaking
new treatments to studies that shape public policy and improve
lives, the significant economic and societal impact of the UK
research base is extremely impressive."
The reports detail how research has created wealth, improved
society, increased the number of skilled individuals and promoted
health and wellbeing. Examples range from the development of a new
form of broccoli to informing defence policy in Afghanistan.
Notes to editors
1. Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the strategic partnership of
the UK's seven Research Councils who annually invest
around £3 billion in research. It supports excellent research, as
judged by peer review, that has an impact on the growth,
prosperity and wellbeing of the UK.
2. The RCUK report details the various activities through which
the Research Councils are working together to achieve greater
impact. This includes collaboration with partners in key
commercial sectors, the Technology Strategy Board and governmental
departments. A copy of the RCUK Impact Report 2011 is
available here.
3. The remaining seven reports detail how each council is
supporting research and science and contain excellent case studies
of the impact this research has had on the economy and science.
Research Council Impact Reports can be accessed through the
following links:
· Arts
& Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
· Biotechnology
& Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
· Economic
& Social Research Council (ESRC)
· Engineering
& Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
· Medical
Research Council (MRC)
· Natural
Environment Research Council (NERC)
· Science
& Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
4. Examples from the reports include:
· AHRC: An AHRC-funded research project let to a team researching
and communicating the history of Birmingham’s suburbs, resulting
in new public exhibitions being developed at the Birmingham
Museum.
· BBSRC: Beneforte Broccoli, developed from BBSRC-funded research
at the Institute of Food Research and the John Innes Centre boosts
the body’s antioxidant enzyme levels.
· EPSRC: Autonomy, an EPSRC spin-out company, was started by Dr
Mike Lynch at Cambridge University in 1996 and sold to Hewlett
Packard in August 2011 for over £7bn.
· ESRC: Professor Theo Farrell undertook an assessment of the
British Army’s performance in Operation Moshtarak, a 2010
offensive in southern Afghanistan. The resulting classified report
informed doctrine development and pre-deployment training.
· MRC: Humira ® that was created by Cambridge Antibody
Technology (CAT) using technology licensed from MRC and is now
estimated to be the world’s top earning pharmaceutical product,
expected to reach $10bn in sales by 2016.
· NERC: The NERC Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) was critical in
demonstrating that Sea turbines can be deployed without harm to
sea mammals. This will allow 500-1000 tidal turbines to be
deployed confidently in UK waters by 2020, potentially generating
£150m to £1bn per annumfor the UK economy by 2050.
· STFC: STFC researchers have confirmed the most remote galaxy in
the Universe observed to date and seen how it would have appeared
13.1 billion years ago only 600 million years after the Big Bang.
Contacts:
BIS Press Office
NDS.BIS@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Sally Catmull
Phone: 020 7215 6577
sally.catmull@bis.gsi.gov.uk