Submission to the Science and Technology Committee (Commons) Inquiry on the role of technology, research and innovation in the Covid-19 recovery

02 December 2020

Russell Group universities have played a leading role in the fight against Covid-19, from facilitating ground-breaking research on the virus, to producing new ventilator and testing technology, to providing community support and offering housing and facilities to healthcare workers. Researchers at the Universities of Oxford, Imperial, Bristol and Southampton are carrying out vaccine trials and many of our universities have devoted laboratories to Covid-19 research.

The Spending Review 2020 set the fiscal environment in which policy decisions about investments in technology, research and innovation are taken. Our submission to Government for the Spending Review 2020 addresses questions around economic opportunities and challenges that lie ahead and highlights measures that will maximise the economic impact of the UK’s world-leading research base, and so it was also submitted to the Science and Technology Committee's inquiry on the role of technology, research and innovation in the Covid-19 recovery.

The accompanying briefing highlights the benefits of investment in research to the whole of the UK, and looks at what Government can do to enable universities to plan their finances around research and how it can offer clarity around new and welcome support packages. Read the briefing and the full submission to the Spending Review below:

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