Royal Society president blasts R&D shortfall.

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Author: Manners, David

Private investment in R&D does not do justice to the UK science base and lags behind public investment in R&D, the House of Lords was told last week.

"If you examine the papers cited as the inspiration for patents, they come mainly from publicly-funded research. More than three-quarters come from university research and the science base," said Lord May of Oxford, president of the Royal Society and a former chief scientific officer to the Government.

"Patent ownership by UK universities has doubled in the past 10 years," he added.

That contrasts with private R&D investment. The UK spends only 1.8 per cent of GDP on R&D, compared to the recent 10-year Government plan to be spending 2.5 per cent by 2015.

"That deficit is as a result of a shortfall in private spending; very little of the deficit relates to public spending," said Lord May.

Quoting US Nobel prize-winner Joe Stiglitz, he said: "Investments in R&D have large payoffs in terms of growth. Investments in R&D are estimated to account for half or more the increase in output per person."

Lord May quoted studies which estimate that: "The private rates of return on investment in R&D are in the range of 20 to 30 per cent."

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By David Manners