Last week’s poll: support for R&D in the UK

A report published by ONS in June states that government expenditure on R&D in science, engineering and technology grew by 6.4 per cent to £12.2bn in 2017.

According to ONS, UK research councils contributed the most to expenditure on SET in 2017 at £3.8bn.

The same report highlights the aim of the government’s Industrial Strategy to raise investment in R&D to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027.

But are current levels of state support focussed correctly, and are challenges around accessibility to funding stifling innovation and growth for smaller entities?

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Should government funding be allocated to R&D that could be more properly funded by the company which hopes to profit from it, and is the balance between fundamental and industrially focused research weighted fairly?

We put this to Engineer readers in last week’s poll, with 52 per cent of respondents agreeing that not enough information is available about what support can be accessed.