Imperial expert at Labour Party Conference

An Imperial College expert joined a panel discussion on science and innovation supporting economic growth at Labour Party Conference 2023.

Professor Mary Ryan, Vice-Provost for Research and Enterprise at Imperial, spoke at the Labour Party annual conference in Liverpool last week.

Imperial partnered with the Institute for Government for an event at the Conference, where Professor Mary Ryan was joined by Chi Onwurah, Shadow Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, Chris Giles, Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, Katherine Bennett, Chief Executive Officer at the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and Giles Wilkes, senior fellow at the Institute for Government. Chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government.

Science and innovation contributing to UK economic growth

Shadow Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, Chi Onwurah stated science and innovation isn’t something that happens in an ivory tower - it is key to our economy, growth and critically to improving people’s lives. She highlighted Labour’s five missions for Britain, including the ambition to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7, and noted science and innovation is critical to each of these.

Chi Onwurah MP spoke about the need to level up innovation across the country. She highlighted the economic potential for wider regions to commercialise innovation in similar ways to Cambridge and other parts of the country.

Professor Mary Ryan agreed regional R&D ecosystems are important and emphasised the need to position the UK as a research ecosystem on an international scale. She explained the UK is effectively translating innovation and highlighted Imperial start-ups which raised over £600 million in investment over the last five years.

Professor Mary Ryan said Imperial would like to see long-term, stable funding for planning and investment that allows discovery through to economic translation. She added if we’re going to address global challenges around areas such as the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and AI deployment then it is critical the UK attracts global talent.

Investment in R&D

Chris Giles, Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, spoke about UK investment in R&D compared to other countries. He stated the UK spends 3% of national income on R&D which equates to £66 billion, above the OECD average and in line with Germany. He said we should shift the focus from the amount of money we are investing and instead look at the value it delivers.

Professor Mary Ryan echoed this and pointed to the investment mindset in the US which is very different to the UK, with less aversion to risk. She noted there is a shift needed within the UK investment community to understand the value of diversifying into areas such as deep tech and education needs to be led by experts in this space. She called for ambitious stability where we are raising the bar and recognising the UK can be world leaders in specific aspects of science.

Chi Onwurah MP concluded by expressing the need for a government which understands the contribution of science and innovation. She explained it is critical to put in place long-term policy, backed by funding mechanisms to support scientists and businesses to translate innovation into economic growth.