资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

05/11/2019

Two significant documents, produced by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), that analyse the UK’s research and innovation infrastructures for the first time and highlight investment opportunities across the country, are published today.

The UK’s research and innovation infrastructure: opportunities to grow our capability and The UK’s research and innovation infrastructure Landscape Analysis are available via the UKRI website. 

The reports are also supported by an online portal that allows anyone to browse a catalogue of the UK’s 800+ publicly-funded research and innovation infrastructures that are open for use and collaboration.

The UK research and innovation infrastructure landscape is diverse, from large-scale physical research facilities such as synchrotrons, research ships and scientific satellites, to networks of imaging technologies and knowledge-based resources such as scientific, cultural or artistic collections, archives, clinical and population cohorts, data and computing systems.

The Opportunities Report identifies potential opportunities to create a step-change in the next-generation of infrastructure capability and options for resulting investment. It is intended to guide decision-making and identification of priorities to 2030. The opportunities set out range from investing in biotechnology, to future transport solutions and renewable energy sources.

The Landscape Analysis provides a picture of the UK’s infrastructure landscape in 2018/19. This is the first time such a broad analysis has been carried out. It used a questionnaire- based approach that gathered data from almost a thousand infrastructures and institutions.

The analysis identified over 500 nationally or internationally significant infrastructures. These are located in every region of the UK with around 50 located overseas, in at least 25 different countries.

They play a valuable role in the economy: over three quarters of infrastructures report that they work with business and 42% report that they work with public policy.

The UK has a breadth of expertise with 92% of these infrastructures working across multiple topic domains.

Mark Thomson, Executive Chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Senior Responsible Officer for UKRI’s infrastructure roadmap programme, said: “This is the first time we have undertaken an exercise of this breadth and this report will inform our approach to planning the next generation of UK research and innovation infrastructure. The roadmap programme has been a collaborative effort across the councils of UKRI and beyond. We have had extensive engagement with the UK research and innovation community and we are grateful for the input from the many expert stakeholders that have helped shape the report.”

UKRI’s reports are released the same day Professor Sir Adrian Smith and Professor Graeme Reid’s review which provides advice to Government on opportunities for the UK to extend its international collaborations.