Government cuts to science funding would damage UK competitiveness by stifling innovation, university bodies have warned.
The broadside, from Universities UK and the Russell Group of research-led universities, sets the scene for a post-election battle over funding the research that business relies on for lucrative new technologies.
Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said: "Cuts and uncertainty in research funding risk disrupting the intellectual ecosystem and harming the prospects for spin-out companies and other commercial exploitation." According to a recent survey, companies spun out from the 20 Russell Group universities generate yearly turnover of more than £700m.
Universities UK said senior academics were worried that the UK's £3.1bn government-funded science research budget would be hit as an incoming government struggled to contain the £178bn deficit. "We are gravely concerned about the prospect of substantial cuts," said the body, which represents all UK universities. "If we want to keep our seat at the table of the top economies, we need to have better ideas than other countries."
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Author: Jonathan Guthrie, Andrew Bolger and Chris Tighe
