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Research Councils UK Business Plan Competition

Malcolm Wicks MP,  Minister of State for Energy
The Royal Society, London,  07 December 2006

This event recognises the researchers who turn great research into great business. That is the aim of the Research Council’s Business Plan Competition.

I’ve been Science Minister for three weeks now, so I’m pretty authoritative really! Of course the starting point which all of you would accept is that science is central to our society and economy. The question we face is how to apply the results of research quickly and disseminate the results of research effectively to sectors that can use it.

And Government is not just saying that Science is important, we’re putting the Public’s money behind it. In 1997 – and I pick that date at random - the science budget was £1.3 billion, and by 2007-08 it will have increased to £3.5 billion.

I’m pleased that last week the EU parliament voted to increase the EU science budget, and given the strength of the UK research base, I expect that this will be of disproportionate benefit to the UK.

One of the points about my job as the new science minister is that you and I need to explain more to the public about how this budget is spent, as we respond to challenges including global warming, terrorism, stem cell and animal research. We need to do more to better explain the benefits of scientific research to the public, and the impact t it can have on some of the big challenges we face – such as the challenge of an ageing society, the interaction between science and the NHS, our own national security, to name just a few.

One indicator of improved commercialisation is that in the last three years alone, 25 university spin-out companies – now valued at £1.5 billion - have been floated on the stock market.

The awards today celebrate the success of British researchers in developing plans to unlock the potential of research. From speaking to the competition applicants earlier, I have a clear feeling that we are moving in the right direction.

Lat Friday I visited the University of Surrey, and in particular its work in satellite technology. As a social scientist, at first I thought that they’d probably have published a few papers, and have a couple of postgraduates mucking about. But they’re a global leader, and I was genuinely impressed to see a global centre of excellence in satellite technology, not just in producing excellent peer reviewed research articles about satellite technology, but in developing real satellites which orbit the globe and have attracted the attention of NASA.

This brings me to the reason we are here today – the Research Councils’ Business Plan Competition. The awards cover research in a range of disciplines, and as a former social scientist the business plan competition may in future recognise the public policy outcomes in terms of the welfare state to which social science contributes.

Examples include ways of maximising the potential of 3D imaging, with applications from healthcare to video gaming, computer animated textures for clothing and interior design – this one puzzled me a bit at first, but now means I won’t be able to go to M&S on my own as the software won’t be with me, and Oral vaccination – which I understand rather better, aiding the global fight against disease. I also had a demonstration of improved accuracy in fingerprint identification – now I’ll need to go to Scotland yard later in the day – and more effective treatment for respiratory diseases using easier breathing systems. Combating the software bugs that affect the reliability of consumer products was another example I was being told about, and I had a brief on speeding up pharmaceutical and cosmetic testing with new biosensors – of clear importance given the commercial importance of pharmaceutical companies getting drugs to market as quickly as possible.

The business plan competition equips researchers with the skills, knowledge and support they need to develop a first rate business plan, through expert trainers, coaches and mentors. The winners will receive prizes of up to £25,000 for business plans judged to have the best potential to turn business ideas into reality.

Our record of scientific discovery is one of the best in the world, underpinning our future prosperity. In the last three years alone, 25 university spin-out companies – now valued at £1.5 billion - have been floated on the stock market. But we’ve still got to do more to translate our outstanding ability to invent into goods and services we can sell. It used to be said that the UK was were good on discovery, but that in terms of application we’re in the Third Division North (or should I say South – I’d better be careful on that). What I’ve seen today has shown that we have moved on a great deal since then.

Thank you