Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the recommendations on regional innovation made in the Core Cities UK Universities Declaration.

The Government announced we will publish a new ambitious Places Strategy for R&D in the R&D Roadmap. The Places Strategy will ensure that our research and development system delivers real economic and societal benefits in cities, towns, regions, and devolved nations right across the UK.

We will be stepping up our efforts to foster greater collaboration and co-creation between decision-makers at national, devolved, regional and local levels. We will also be factoring the needs and opportunities of places into our decisions about the R&D system.

Building on strengths and ensuring that all areas experience the benefits of a R&D intensive economy is an important part of the government’s ambition to increase R&D investment across the economy to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

BEIS and UKRI are engaging widely with industry, civic organisations and the scientific community including universities from across the country to help develop a strategy that responds to the needs of areas and communities across the UK. As part of this we will be considering the recommendations on regional innovation made in the Core Cities UK Universities Declaration.

Looking at innovation more broadly, we have convened an innovation expert group, Chaired by Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE of the Royal Academy of Engineering, to provide advice to government on the priority actions and opportunities that need to be taken to boost innovation and drive up the UK’s productivity.