GuildHE and the Consortium for Research Excellence, Support and Training (CREST) today welcomed the publication of the Government’s Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth.
 

GuildHE CEO, Andy Westwood, said:

‘Today’s strategy is very welcome indeed. It sets out the vital importance of innovation to the UK economy and a practical policy framework to make more of it happen. The approach rightly puts higher education and research at the centre of the UK’s growth strategy and also sets out clear steps for further improving our innovation eco-system.

‘We particularly support the emphasis on sectors such as the creative industries, agri-business, advanced manufacturing and aerospace and also the focus on access to finance, tax credits and public sector procurement. But perhaps most encouraging of all is that the strategy has embraced recent thinking and academic evidence of how open innovation increasingly takes place across organisations, sectors and borders and that the activities and interests of users and governments are vital. Crucially, the strategy also explains why innovation needs to happen across all sectors of the economy and in all parts of the UK.

‘The strategy may not generate the same level of attention as the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement last week, but it is potentially more significant. If this becomes the Government’s central story of economic growth, then at last there may be a reason for optimism.’

For more information and comment:
Dee Easter
Tel: 020 7387 7711
Email: dee.easter@guildhe.ac.uk

Notes to editors

1. GuildHE is a recognised higher education representative body. Its 34 members are among the most dynamic and fastest-growing institutions in the sector. For a list of GuildHE institutions, please visit: https://www.guildhe.ac.uk/en/members-list/ 
2. The Consortium for Research Excellence, Support and Training (CREST) is a sub-association of GuildHE and provides an innovative model for how to further research excellence and promote institutional and interdisciplinary collaboration. More information can be found at www.crest.ac.uk

3. The strategy document, ‘Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth’, and the economic analysis are published on the BIS website https://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/innovation/innovating-for-growth