The Science and Innovation Network is flexible in how it operates, but there are a number of key activities it undertakes regularly
- Pursuing UK policy goals: we respond to direct requests from UK policy-makers to influence key decision-makers overseas. We also help the UK develop its own science and innovation policies by providing advice on how similar policies overseas work, and by assessing how such systems might or might not be appropriate in a UK context.
- Supporting visits: we organise VIP visits from the UK to the countries we operate in, including from Ministers, Parliamentary Select Committees, the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, and senior officials from Government Departments, the Research Councils, the Royal Society, leading UK universities, UK companies, and others. We also help organise visits of their equivalents to the UK.
- Organising events: we organise workshops, conferences, meetings and other events. These vary in size from just a few people to more than a hundred. Such events help us pursue all our objectives, from identifying potential new areas for scientific collaboration and catalysing its early stages, to promoting UK policy goals to an overseas audience. As well as our own events, we work with many partners overseas in adding value to (and delivering our objectives through) their events.
- Reporting: we report regularly on scientific and innovation issues within the countries we are in, with both regular newsletters and one-off reports on new emerging issues. We also report back directly to a large range of customers seeking information on science or innovation policy or data from the countries in which we operate.
