Universities are under significant financial pressure, with substantial gaps in their current R&D funds, stemming from short falls in both public and charitable funding provisions. To deliver their role in the R&D ecosystem effectively, universities must be supported to achieve long-term financial sustainability.
CaSE has drawn on the breadth of expertise of our membership to capture the diverse benefits that university-led R&D brings to both the research landscape and to society more broadly. In this briefing, we highlight key themes and case studies, expanding the evidence base on the value university R&D brings across the UK, and ultimately supporting the sector’s advocacy for these vital institutions.
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DownloadBenefits of University R&D
Knowledge and Expertise
Universities are home to a vast and interdisciplinary base of knowledge and expertise as well as being a disseminator of research skills and best practice. R&D taking place within universities benefits from this multi- and interdisciplinary research environment, allowing open exchange and flow of ideas across research disciplines locally, nationally and globally.
Infrastructure and Facilities
Research equipment and facilities are often highly expensive and not easily affordable by businesses, particularly small start-ups and scale ups. In recent years, there has also been a scaling down of R&D capability within some larger businesses, creating a growing need for access to university facilities and equipment to support business R&D.
Convener and Arbitrator
Universities play a crucial role, especially in regional settings, as a focal point and anchor for regional research institutions and clustering of expertise. In establishing a network of research organisations, universities can help bring in funding to collaborative endeavours that individual companies would otherwise be unable to access.
Civic and Cultural Contributor
Universities have a vital role in enriching local communities at the civic and cultural level, as well as through integrating R&D in local initiatives. The research conducted by universities can directly benefit communities, through yielding research outcomes that are both locally and globally relevant.
Talent and Skills
Universities provide a talented pool of researchers that organisations can tap into, providing access to ‘on demand’ expertise from university staff through a variety of different flexible engagement models, such as funding a university-based PhD student or seconding specialist researchers. The porosity that co-funded staffing between private and university led-R&D projects provides can also de-risk the hiring and staffing prospects for both companies and employees, particularly with SMEs.
De-risking Research and Innovation
Universities have a crucial role in de-risking the research and innovation pipeline. These institutions often take early, high-risk ideas to the point of validated proof-of-concept technology, at which point companies are more willing to carry the innovation forward to market.
Conclusion
CaSE heard overwhelmingly from stakeholders within the sector that universities are so intertwined in our research ecosystem that we can’t begin to predict the full cost of losing their R&D contribution at the regional and national level. These six benefits, although not always easily measured nor necessarily accompanied with clear and direct financial returns, underpin all UK R&D and its associated benefits to society and the economy.
Companies and service providers that rely on the supply of R&D and innovations universities provide will simply go and find it elsewhere rather than stay in the region, or even in the country, and lose it. To retain this vital resource, it is imperative that the new Government supports UK universities to achieve long-term financial sustainability.
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