Business and university leaders unite in calls for new Industrial Strategy to remove barriers to growth
Developed by the Russell Group Industrial Strategy Expert Panel, Future Ready: the Path to Growth offers proposals to address structural challenges blocking new businesses, maximise the strengths of research-intensive universities to attract overseas investment, develop a skilled workforce that will meet the UK’s long-term needs, and create an inclusive Industrial Strategy that benefits every region of the UK.
Other recommendations include moves to encourage more high-potential spinouts and start-ups, as well as supporting broader commercialisation of research, by scaling up the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). New data from Research England recently showed that every £1 of HEIF investment returns £14.80 for the UK economy – which rises to as much as £20 for large research-intensive universities, when accounting for spinout performance.
In the report’s foreword, former cabinet minister and Executive Chair of Warwick Innovation District, Greg Clark, wrote: “Taking a strategic approach to supporting UK industrial strength is the right choice given the wide-ranging challenges the UK faces: from insufficient investment in infrastructure across housing, transport, energy and digital capacity, to difficulty for new businesses in accessing financing.
“The Industrial Strategy provides a unique opportunity to drive the necessary changes with urgency and at scale. This means putting partnership between government, business, the public sector and universities at the heart of the strategy.”
The report also demonstrates how the strengths of Russell Group universities, and their existing partnerships with UK businesses and wider global networks, are already contributing to the priority sectors identified by government. These partnerships are generating high returns on investment, creating new jobs and expanding the UK’s capacity for innovation.
Key proposals for government and research-intensive universities include:
- putting universities at the centre of new local growth plans, to ensure the Industrial Strategy brings benefits for all UK regions and nations
- integrating the strengths of our universities into the wider UK offer to overseas investors, including R&D partnerships and opportunities for philanthropic and business investments
- plugging the gaps in the early stages of the spinout pipeline, by creating a new dedicated Spark Fund
- introducing new incentives to reverse the recent decline in university-SME collaboration, to improve SMEs’ ability to benefit from university expertise, to innovate and expand
- encouraging universities and industry to work with Skills England to support the development of a unified skills framework, including a focus on high-level research skills.
Professor Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick and Chair of the Russell Group Industrial Strategy Expert Panel, said:
“The scale of the economic challenge the UK is facing is clear. The Industrial Strategy at the centre of the government’s economic agenda will need to remove the persistent barriers to productivity that have held back growth for well over a decade.
“As our panel has developed the proposals we’re setting out today, it has become evident that universities are an integral part of the ecosystem. They play a unique linchpin role as innovators, educators, convenors and major employers. With the right funding mechanisms and policy environment, they have the potential to drive even more growth and productivity.”
Dr Tim Bradshaw, Chief Executive of the Russell Group, said:
“The ability of our universities to provide the highest quality education, and deliver ground-breaking research, is well-established. Now is the time to think much more holistically about the role that universities can play in securing the country’s long-term economic resilience.
“An effective industrial strategy should harness the full breadth of disciplines, knowledge and capabilities of universities. This is as much about drawing on economics and social science to improve regulation, innovate in financial services and approaches to public procurement, as it is about the science and engineering behind new technologies.
"As anchor institutions in towns and cities across the UK, our universities can make wide-ranging impacts on our skills pipeline and our public services, delivering for families and businesses in every corner of the country.”
The government is expected to set out its plans for the Industrial Strategy at the Spending Review in June 2025.
The Russell Group Industrial Strategy Expert Panel comprises:
Industry members
- Arnab Basu, CEO and co-founder, Kromek Group
- Kathryn Chapman, Executive Director, Innovate Cambridge
- Greg Clark, Warwick Innovation District
- Harry Destecroix, Founder of Science Creates / Managing Partner, SCVC
- Robert Scott, VP, Genomics and Genetics, GSK
- Jen Tippin, Group Chief Operating Officer, NatWest
- Lucy Yu, CEO, Centre for Net Zero, Octopus Energy Group
Russell Group members
- Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor, University of Warwick (Chair)
- Stuart Brocklehurst, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Business Engagement and Innovation, University of Exeter
- Sue Hartley, Vice-President for Research and Innovation, University of Sheffield
- Uzma Khan, Vice-Principal for Economic Development and Innovation, University of Glasgow
- Susana Mourato, Vice-President and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), London School of Economics
- Mary Ryan, Vice-Provost (Research and Innovation), Imperial
- Mark Spearing, Vice-President (Research & Enterprise), University of Southampton
- Brian Walker, Strategic Advisor, Newcastle University
