The UK’s main research funder should set itself targets for attracting industry funding for scientific research and encouraging science-based spin-outs, a parliamentary committee has recommended.
In a detailed report into the effectiveness of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)??on 23 July, the influential House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) argues that the ?9 billion-a-year funder does not have a set of clearly defined objectives against which to judge its performance and hold it accountable.
To bolster the case for public investment in research and innovation?(R&I), the committee says more transparent performance measures should be published, noting that UKRI’s self-assessment currently involves an internal scorecard covering 100 metrics, which is shared only with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
This scorecard covers the impact of UKRI’s research, stakeholders’ experience of UKRI, the health of the UK’s research system and the extent to which the organisation is learning and improving.
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UKRI should “set measurable outcomes”, the committee’s report urges, while the funder should also set itself six to 10 “targets in priority areas, such as private investment in R&I, to help appraise its performance effectively”.
Those recommendations echo plans from DSIT shared with the committee, which would see the incoming leadership of UKRI set three key performance indicators (KPIs) against which they would be assessed: overall public and private spend on research and development (R&D); UK global rankings on the creation of ideas and; UK global rankings in scale-up growth and application of research.
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“Our inquiry found that the environment in which UKRI operates poses significant challenges in translating important research into successful going concerns,” said Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, who chairs the PAC.
“There is much more to do if UKRI is to become the focused actor delivering on government’s priorities – government must bring all the support it can muster to bear on the skills gaps identified in our report allowing the UK to more reliably produce start-ups,” he continued, stating that it should seek to embed “better accountability and transparency in its organisations”.
The lack of “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound objectives and KPIs” meant it was “difficult to know whether it is making progress against its overall objectives,” explains the report.
Speaking to 糖心Vlog,?Clifton-Brown added: “We have to focus the minds of inventors – all of us need goals and targets to help us achieve. UKRI is an extremely important organisation for our country and the same principle should apply.”
“The UK is very good at inventing things – now we need to be good at scaling up these companies,” he added.
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Asked whether UKRI had the resources to increase start-up and scale-up activity at university spin-outs, Clifton-Brown said: “That is why UKRI needs to encourage private investment. It is really important that it provides the right advice and training on this.”
UKRI has stated that private sector investment in UK research and innovation was ?46.7 billion in 2024. However, the report says the “lack of time-series data and targets means it cannot be clear on whether it is making sufficient progress in increasing UK private investment”.
In addition, there was “insufficient clarity about, and visibility of, where UKRI is investing its money”, the report continues, making it difficult to know, in some cases, where research was focused.
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“Around 15 per cent of UKRI’s grants do not have a full description on its system, and in other cases the descriptions are poor quality and consequently spending on these grants cannot be accurately classified automatically,” it explains.
“With all parts of government, and industry, subject to large-scale assaults on their cyber security defences, it is crucial that UKRI’s updated systems are resilient to cyber threats,” it adds.
The report also urges DSIT to set the priorities that steer how UKRI allocates its budget, noting that there were “105 government policy papers across 13 ministerial departments [between 2021 and 2024] where UKRI was expected to contribute, for example by funding research or building partnerships”.
“DSIT and UKRI do not rank such activities or even compile them into a single list,” it adds.
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