National Academies make fresh case for investing in research and innovation, with two new evidence reports

The National Academies have made a fresh case for investing in research and innovation, with the publication of two new evidence reports. 

The Academies – the British Academy, the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Academy of Engineering – recognise the need to better understand the range of benefits that research and innovation (R&I) bring to the UK, the distribution of those benefits across the country and its population, how those benefits are achieved and how best to measure them. The Academies assembled a Steering Group to oversee the commissioning of two evidence syntheses to investigate these questions.

Together, the reports are a step in developing an evidence base to better describe the conditions needed to ensure the continued excellence of the UK’s outstanding research and innovation base and its delivery of benefits to the UK population. 

The first report, Evidence Synthesis on Measuring the Distribution of Benefits and Research and Innovation, collects evidence on measuring the distribution of the benefits of research and innovation.

The second report, Evidence Synthesis on the Conditions Needed to Translate Research and Drive Innovation, considers the conditions needed to translate research and drive innovation. This report looks in depth at four different sectors: creative industries, defence, fintech and pharmaceutical and life sciences.

An evidence synthesis is designed to provide policymakers with access to a balanced summary of all available evidence on a topic. The evidence required to address a policy question often comes from a range of disciplines, study designs and sources.