Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Progress in implementing the recommendations of the Warry Report on the economic impact of the Research Councils

Responding to the challenge

Professor Philip Esler
Chief Executive, Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK.
October 2007

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In January 2007, Research Councils UK (RCUK) published Increasing the Economic Impact of the Research Councils. This sets out an action plan to demonstrate and increase the economic impact of the UK Research Councils as recommended in the report of a group chaired by Peter Warry in 2006. I am now pleased to set out our progress against this plan and how we have risen to the challenge set us by the Warry report. During the last year we have delivered an integrated suite of activities which will achieve yet greater economic impact from our investments in excellent research.

The Research Councils quite rightly are proud of the excellence of the UK research community, who outperform most other nations in terms of research quality and impact. The UK represents 1% of the global population but produces 9% of the world's scientific publications and 12% of the scientific citations. In this challenging era of globalisation, the UK must be renowned for not only our excellence in quality research but also our strong ability to maximise the benefits of our research innovations. Our expertise in innovation and our deftness in strategic collaborations with global industries are principal keys to significant improvements for the UK's economy and society.

We are also proud of the success of UK researchers who convert their research outcomes into genuine improvements for UK society and the economy, and thus produce 'economic impact'. This process of identifying such uses of research outcomes is complex at best. Whilst UK researchers have been producing such impacts for decades, the last few years have witnessed a dramatic change with more academics engaged and interested than ever before in how their research helps society and the economy. The Research Councils have been highly active in this cultural transformation, vigorously encouraging researchers fund to produce both excellent research and greater economic impact.

In an Economic Impact Study of unprecedented scale and depth, PA and SQW have investigated the outputs from eighteen case studies. I am particularly pleased that they have demonstrated some of the richness and diversity of impacts arising from UK research. A striking and reassuring feature of the study is that every area of investigation has demonstrated successful yet often very different impacts.

This study makes clear how our research has dramatically improved the lives of people in the UK and abroad, boosting our prosperity, health and quality of life. Research that uncovered the structure and function of DNA has since transformed the nature of forensic science. Our research has led to pioneering work on mobile communications and medical imaging. It has also achieved major advances in our knowledge of environmental change. It has worked at the molecular level to develop revolutionary new types of drugs. It has played a vital role in eradicating a disease that had wreaked havoc among cattle herds in Africa. It has profoundly shaped government policy to combat social exclusion. It has also contributed to the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Demonstrating that there is a causative link between research funded by the Research Councils and a particular innovation in a system as complex as the UK economy is a daunting task. This complexity should be viewed as a stimulus - not as a hindrance - to innovation, as the means to creating economic impacts are as varied as the research itself. We should avoid looking for tidy and narrow views of innovation. The foundations are laid. We can build on this methodology in the years ahead to create a baseline against which further progress can be measured.

The organisations that benefit from or use the research we fund, whether in the public, private or other sectors of the economy, have a vital role in the achievement of economic benefit. For this reason, the Councils will work to improve the richness and scale of interactions between their research and user communities. The rapidly evolving partnership between RCUK and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) offers exciting opportunities to support collaborations between research and business, particularly as the TSB expands their remit to cover new sectors of the UK economy and new forms of innovation, such as those in the creative industries and financial services.

Research Councils need to be more receptive to research users and their needs, and have commissioned an independent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers of the experience and perceptions of those users who have worked closely with the Councils. This User Satisfaction Survey provides clear evidence of our performance and highlights a number of areas where we could usefully focus attention.

We have an obligation to the public to achieve yet greater economic, social and cultural impact from their investment in the Research Councils. We will ensure that economic impact is embedded within the strategies, delivery and organisation of the Research Councils. For example, we will enhance proposal assessment by exploring the needs and motivations of users in peer review and ensuring sufficient userrepresentation in decision making. We will also improve guidance to applicants and reviewers, engendering a shared understanding and value of economic impact.

A third independent study by DTZ has analysed our knowledge transfer programmes. It reveals considerable harmonisation in existing provision, but also scope to go further. It also proposes a new web-based knowledge transfer portal to improve the interface with our research and users communities.

Much remains to be done, notably the establishment of a KT Summit, bringing together the major players within UK innovation to work on matters of common interest and concern. Nonetheless, I am very pleased to report progress across our diverse but closely integrated suite of activities: demonstrating economic impact, working with users, understanding and coordinating our various knowledge transfer strategies, developing our strategic alliance with the Technology Strategy Board and ensuring that the Councils' peer review remains fit for purpose.

As we look forward, the natural centre of gravity for RCUK is high economic impact from excellent research. While the timescales, methods and approaches to maximising economic impact will vary across the Research Councils' portfolios, the strategic intent is very clear. Our commitment to realising fully the economic impact of research is strong.

 

Professor Philip Esler
AHRC Chief Executive and RCUK Knowledge Transfer and Economic Impact Champion
November 2007

 

A chronology of related documents

2007 October

Excellence with Impact

Research Councils UK

2007 October

Study on the economic impact of the Research Councils

PA Consulting Group and SQW Consulting 2007

Part 1: Summary

Part 2: Case studies

Part 3: Appendices, including supporting analyses for case studies

2007 September

User Satisfaction Survey

PricewaterhouseCoopers

2007 September

Research Council's Evidence for the Economic Impact Group

DTZ Consulting & Research

2007 January

Increasing the Economic Impact of the Research Councils

Research Councils UK

2006 July

Increasing the economic impact of Research Councils (Warry Report)

Advice to the Director General of Science and Innovation, DTI from the Research Council Economic Impact Group.

2006 April

Research Council's Evidence for the Economic Impact Group

Research Councils UK

 

For more information, please contact:

Toss Gascoigne

Executive Director

Council of the Humanties, Arts and Social Sciences

Phone: +61 2 6201 2740

director [at] chass.org.au