The UK government should set itself a “bold” and “ambitious” target of spending at least 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on research by 2035, says a new report backed by 10 former science and technology ministers.
Calling for more “long-term thinking on science” and an updated national innovation strategy, the report by the centre-right Onward thinktank has urged ministers to commit to increasing research and development spending levels over the next 12 years to bring investment on a par with current per-capita spending in the US, Sweden and Taiwan.
The UK’s R&D budget is set to increase to record levels of about £20 billion a year by 2024-25, notes the report, Wired for Success: Reforming Whitehall to support science and technology. But a long-term goal of spending 2.4 per cent of GDP on R&D by 2027 was achieved last year, following a statistical revision by the Office for National Statistics, with spending now at about 2.9 per cent to 3 per cent in 2020 under the new methodology.
“When it comes to R&D funding, the UK must go further,” recommends the report, published on 1 August, which adds that the UK “still sits outside the top 10 of OECD countries on R&D spend”.
