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 effectiveness of government funding in promoting innovation through (a) Research Councils, (b) Innovate UK, (c) Catapult and (d) other bodies.

The Research Councils’ collective ambition is to ensure the UK remains the best place in the world to do research, innovate and grow businesses for the benefit of society and the economy. Each Research Council publishes an annual impact report. The Research Excellence Framework is a periodic, selective assessment of the quality and impact of research produced by UK universities derived from a range of funding sources including Research Councils, Government bodies, industry and charities. It assesses both the excellence of the research and of the impact that excellent research has had on the economy and society. In 2014, 44% of submitted impacts were judged outstanding (4*) and a further 40% judged very considerable (3*).

Innovate UK has evaluated the impact of its interventions showing that on average, for every £1 it has invested, there is a return of between £6.40 and £7.30 in GVA to the economy. It has supported innovation in 7,600 organisations, creating around 55,000 new jobs. Innovate UK grant support is shown to substantially increase UK firms’ innovation performance, with significant impacts noted for SMEs (with 10 to 250 employees) and large firms (with more than 250 employees).

As many Catapults are still in the earlier stages of implementation, it is too early to fully assess the performance of the Catapult network. Key performance indicators are in place to help assess Catapult performance. Innovate UK will publish evaluation frameworks for Catapult centres this financial year.