10 February 2009
Lord Drayson gives evidence on ‘putting science and engineering
at the heart of government policy’
Summary
The Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee held
its first hearing of the inquiry into ‘putting science and
engineering at the heart of government policy’ on 26th
January. As the Minister of State for Science and Innovation,
Lord Drayson has a key role in promoting science and innovation
across government. This evidence session was an opportunity
for the Committee to quiz him on how he sees this role developing
and how government support for science and engineering is
implemented. See an uncorrected transcript from the evidence
session and the Science Question Time which followed it
here.
Semta View
Semta’s evidence to the Committee called for better
understanding of the needs of science and engineering companies in
wider policy-making and initiatives (for example, Train to
Gain). We also highlighted the value of engaging with the
Sector Skills Councils which cover these areas in the economy when
formulating policy. See our evidence to the Select Committee
here.
Lord Drayson on science and engineering in government
policy
- views his role as one of champion of science, engineering and
innovation throughout government
- aims to strongly encourage those departments which do not have
a chief scientific adviser (eg Treasury) to appoint one
- believes that technology transfer activity has significantly
improved over the past ten years
Is concerned that, despite an increase in the number of spin-outs,
they are not turning into really substantial businesses
- wants to encourage post-docs to go into school teaching and
industry and move between academia, industry and government
- did not want to be drawn on whether the government’s science
policy should proactively invest more in regions other than Oxford
/ Cambridge / London
- is encouraging RDAs to work with the Technology Strategy Board
to ensure alignment with regional inward investment and government
support for technological research
- articulated the view that investing in research attracts great
researchers, but an existing critical mass of experts in a region
is one of the key drivers for investment
- social policy could develop a more evidence-based approach like
science – using pilots, measures of impact, etc
Science Question Time – Lord Drayson’s
comments
- The UK needs to look at where we have real strategic advantage
and invest in these areas during the recession
- In the NHS the UK has a unique asset to address challenges such
as the aging population and the growth in healthcare costs
- He would not be drawn on what areas might be ‘dropped’ in order
to refocus policy and funding on areas of strategic advantage, but
made it clear that he wanted a strong and broad science base as
well as specialism
- He supports increasing concentration of expertise in
research
- He does not believe the government should step in to fund
R&D from which companies withdraw due to the recession
- Companies have two jobs during a downturn – to survive and to
position themselves for growth in time for the upturn
- The government must use its own procurement processes to
support R&D and to invest in university infrastructure
- He is interested in the debate about how to increase demand for
science education over other subjects
- The UK could lead the world in life sciences
- He believes in a certain amount of intervention to address
issues (such as energy), rather than simply leaving it to the
market
- It is important that the Research Councils continue to fund
larger sustainable projects, which give researchers stability
- It is difficult to judge the balance of funding between blue
skies and transitional research and he is aware of a perception
that pure research is losing out to applied research
- He intends to use peer review in choosing the strategic areas
for increased investment
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