The Research Councils, which collectively invest over £2.5 billion a year in cutting-edge research, will call today for the UK's research organisations to pull together in a concerted effort to meet the challenges of the global economy. Speaking at a conference for leading industrialists and academics this afternoon (28 September, 15.15), Professor Philip Esler, the Research Councils UK (RCUK) lead on economic impact, will argue that Government, research funders, universities, RDAs and businesses need to work in unison if the UK is to effectively realise the economic and social potential of its world-leading academic research.
Professor Esler is giving a speech at the RCUK-sponsored Annual Conference of the Association for University Research and Industry Links (AURIL) in Liverpool. He will outline the work currently underway by the groups that together work on transferring knowledge from the UK research base for the benefit of the economy and society. Professor Esler will recognise the achievements that have been made to date but, in looking forward, he will call on all organisations with an interest in furthering knowledge transfer to work together in co-ordinating flow of people and knowledge from the research base, increasing the commercialisation of research and improving industry-academia collaboration.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Professor Esler said: "The Government has identified globalisation and the implications of a global economy as one of the key challenges facing the UK in coming decades. In order to create and maintain the highly-skilled, knowledge-based economy that will allow this country to thrive when other countries can undertake manufacturing so cheaply we need to harness the world-leading research in our universities and research institutes. We can only do this effectively when everyone involved in knowledge transfer works together and pulls in a common direction."
"Universities, institutes, RDAs and business have worked with and alongside the Research Councils for a number of years and there have been many successes. The different Research Councils are working in collaboration with organisations such as the BBC, biopharmaceutical manufacturers, GSK, BAE Systems and thousands of SMEs to ensure that our research efforts take into account the R&D demands of different sectors. However, we need to look to the future and examine how the Research Councils and our partners can work most effectively together to deliver the step-change in economic and social impact from our research investments that the Government is looking for and the UK needs."
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Contact
Research Councils UK Press Office
Matt Goode
Tel: 01793 413299
Notes to Editors
Professor Philip Esler is Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and chair of the Research Councils UK Knowledge Transfer and Economic Impact Group. As chair of the group Prof Esler is charged with leading the Research Councils efforts to deliver a step-change in the economic impact of their investments.
The AURIL Autumn Conference 2006 is being held in Liverpool 27-29 September 2006. For more information visit: http://www.auril.org.uk
About Research Councils UK
The eight Research Councils are independent non-departmental public bodies, funded by the Science Budget through the Office of Science and Innovation. They are incorporated by Royal Charter and together manage a research budget of over £2.5 billion a year.
Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the partnership between the UK's eight Research Councils. Through RCUK, the Research Councils work together to champion the research, training and innovation they support.
RCUK was created to increase the collective visibility, leadership and policy influence of the Research Councils; to stimulate multi-disciplinary research that encourages collaboration; to provide a single focus for collective dialogue with stakeholders and to encourage greater harmonisation of internal operations.
The partnership is led by the RCUK Executive Group, which meets monthly and comprises the chief executives of the eight Research Councils. The Group is currently chaired by Professor Ian Diamond, Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council.
The eight UK Research Councils are:
- Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC);
- Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC);
- Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC);
- Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC);
- Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);
- Medical Research Council (MRC);
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC);
- Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).