Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Patrick Vallance, the new secretary of state for science, research and innovation. (Photo by Leon ..
. [+] Neal/Getty Images) Getty Images Over the last fortnight, it’s fair to say that our new Labour Government has looked to hit the ground running when it comes to addressing its ever-expanding to-do list. Though tackling the ongoing challenges faced by the UK’s science, tech and academic sectors weren’t exactly front and centre of its election campaign messaging, we are seeing this same sense of urgency and impetus applied to the new administration’s revamped Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT).
Such urgency is very welcome. There is a mounting list of problems that are being faced by the UK’s innovation drivers – high R&D spending firms and our universities being principal among these. As I see it, there are a few intrinsically interlinked challenges that the new Government must get on top of in order to supercharge our innovation sector and help it to realise its massive growth potential.
Grasping the scale of the challenge In recent weeks, there have been a number of concerning reports on the looming prospect of bankruptcies across the university sector, with 40% projected to be in deficit, according to recent reports by both PricewaterhouseCoopers and the OfS , and as many as a third being forced to cut-back on staff, according to The Time s. The prospect of losing research-oriented univer.