Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help ensure that research programmes based in universities integrate with innovations from her Department.

There are a wide range of policy interventions to ensure that the knowledge generated in universities has impact in the economy, for example:

The Government invests £280m a year in Higher Education Innovation Funding to support knowledge exchange between universities, business and other partners. Similarly, the Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) programme supports researchers to commercialise their research, and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), funded through Innovate UK, offer early career researchers the opportunity to work, with business on innovative projects.

Research England are currently conducting a review these knowledge exchange programmes, to ensure that they meet the needs of participants, support government objectives and fit together coherently.