Royal Society Policy Newsletter September 2015

http://newsletters.royalsociety.org/q/13XPzAafcUcNkKYlAJguo/wv

Investment in research, productivity and diversity Online version | Mobile version

Dear Subscriber, The UK parliament has taken a break for the annual political party conference season. We are headed to the Labour, Conservative and SNP conferences. Together with our sister academies, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the British Academy and the Royal Academy of Engineering, we will be hosting discussions at all three exploring the role of research and innovation in boosting UK productivity. At Labour and Conservative party conferences we will also be looking at the growing STEM skills gap and exploring how businesses and schools working together can raise aspirations and encourage young people to study science and maths.

Highlights Calling for greater government investment in research The Society has responded to the Science and Technology Committee's inquiry into the science budget and to the Treasury’s consultation on the Spending Review. In both responses we explain how research benefits the UK and call on the government to increase its investment in R&D to at least match the OECD average of 0.67% of GDP by 2020.   How can research and innovation boost productivity? The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee is holding an inquiry into the government's Productivity Plan. We have written to the Committee to highlight the important contribution of research and innovation to productivity growth and the need to invest in research and skills to get this return. This was also raised by Lord Bilimoria during a debate on productivity in the House of Lords.