The Relationship between Technology and Innovation in the UK

‘The Current and Future Role of Technology and Innovation Centres in the UK’ is a recent report written by Dr. Hermann Hauser on behalf of Lord Mandelson.

With a focus of determining the UK’s long-term strategy for economic growth, the report is set in the context of the transition from the discovery of new technology into the practice of new industry; from research to technological commercialisation.

A recent report from the Royal Society ‘The Scientific Century’, noted that science and innovation is at the forefront of the UK’s plans for economic growth.

However what used to be a relaxed process of developing new technology into commercial industries is now an international race for economic success on each new discovery with countries competing to take advantage of technology and it’s commercial value.

In reaction to this the Government has been urged to shift focus to become a more active force in developing and capitalising on competitive advantage. The UK has a science capability second only to the US: a formidable source of competitive advantage. However it falls short on translating scientific leads into leading positions in new industries.

This is in part due to the gap between the discovery of new technologies and their development into industry. This gap needs to be bridged in order to create commercial propositions that can attract venture capital investment or be licensed – and to be able to do this the UK needs to make sure that new technologies are ‘investment ready’.

To achieve this Dr. Hauser suggests The UK must continue to invest in and support, research excellence; ensure we support areas of industry which have the ability to compete on a global level commercially and close the gap between university education and industry through a ‘transitional infrastructure’ to provide a business focused capacity and capability that bridges research and technology commercialisation.  

This method has been tried and tested successfully in countries including Germany, Taiwan, South Korea and the Netherlands. So called ‘Innovations Centres’ are a physical manifestation of the ‘transitional infrastructure’ for the Government to provide sustained and substantive support for the aim of exploiting the most promising new technologies and secure the prosperity and competitiveness of the UK’s economy.

Structured Government support is an important element in any initiative, in this context facilitating the development of new technologies and helping to establish them in the market as well as encouraging their adoption, driving economic growth and delivering other peripheral benefits including the development of new skills. The strong brand by association with the Government is also key when creating an identity for the innovation centres that will be recognised on a global scale.  

To access the full report please follow this link: www.bis.gov.uk and serach for Dr. Hermann Hauser

Access to a further report on this issue; ‘Ingenious Britain’ – Making the UK the leading high tech exporter in Europe a report by James Dyson can also be found if you follow this link.