The nine Catapult Network CEOs recently provided evidence to an inquiry by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, looking at the contribution of Catapults to delivering the UK’s R&D Roadmap and the ambitions to increase the investment in R&D as a % of GDP in coming years.

The inquiry looked to gain a deeper understanding of the role of Catapults in the innovation ecosystem, how they are supporting the growth of UK businesses and enabling greater private sector investment into Research and Development.

The Committee posed questions to CEOs that explored key emerging developments in technology, incentives and barriers to commercialisation of innovation, the Catapults’ relationship with businesses and universities and the role of Catapults in accelerating ideas through to commercialisation to contribute towards the regional growth agenda.

Headline discussion points included:

• Catapults endeavour to be recognised as a fundamental part of the national translational infrastructure, and through this enhanced recognition, alignment of Government Research and Innovation priorities with Catapult priorities would make full use of the large investment made to build such a unique world-renowned capability.
• a balance of funding across Research (R) and Development (D), that fosters long term ambition and nurtures an intelligent translational ecosystem to enable more risk taking and maximise the benefits to UK plc.
• Incentives provided across Research and Innovation, with a view to fostering more flexible approaches to create the right instruments and innovation ecosystems that more quickly extract the very best value of the public investment to the UK.

You can watch the full House of Lords Science and Technology Committee debate on Parliamentlive.tv.

See also the evidence provided by UKRI, Innovate UK and BEIS here which is also available to watch here.

The inquiry continues in the New Year with evidence from stakeholders and a report with recommendations.

About the Catapult Network

The Catapult Network supports businesses in transforming great ideas into valuable products and services. We are a network of world-leading technology and innovation centres established by Innovate UK. We deliver impact across the UK economy, enabling businesses to thrive in global markets.

Press Contact
Tim Yates, Communications Manager
enquiries@catapultnetwork.org.uk
www.catapult.org.uk