‘Step change’ needed in UK private R&D funding, says NCUB

Private R&D investment was £49.9bn in 2022, according to data released by the ONS yesterday ( 27^th February).

The NCUB says investment in 2022 decreased by 0.4% compared with 2021 in real terms.

Joe Marshall, chief executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), said in a statement: “Today’s new data paints a worrying picture. Private R&D expenditure has only grown marginally since 2018 where it was £46.9bn and in recent years has actually dropped in real terms.

“If the government is truly serious about regaining the nation’s status as a science superpower, it’s vital that we become an even more attractive and competitive place for R&D intensive industries to do business. We need to see a genuinely transformative step change in the levels of private R&D investment.”

A “more research-intensive, innovation-led economy” would give the UK a globally competitive advantage, increase economic growth and lead to a more sustainable society, Marshall added.

One of the main priorities of the government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), set up in February 2023, is to increase the level of private R&D spending.

Marshall concluded: “We need a clear strategy and a suite of measures to raise the UK’s attractiveness as a place to perform and invest in R&D. Government investment has an important catalytic effect to attract greater private investment. It’s time to act now. We are calling on the government to use next week’s Spring Budget to step up if it is to meet its own goal of becoming a true science and technology superpower.”