The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, will present the Spring Budget 2024 to Parliament on 6 March. Ahead of this anticipated event, AIRTO – the Association of Innovation, Research & Technology Organisations – has put forward representation to the His Majesty’s Treasury calling for growth powered by innovation, highlighting the key policy interventions needed. Within this representation, AIRTO has made recommendations for a clear, consistent, innovation-led strategy to boost growth, address immediate economic and societal challenges, and build a strong, energy-secure Net Zero economy. These recommendations are summarised as follows:

• Achieve immediate short-term growth through targeted research and development (R&D) by maintaining current funding for public funding of research, development and innovation.
• Ensure sustained and growing long-term investment in R&D: By 2030, advance beyond 3% for Gross Expenditure (public and private) on R&D as a percentage of GDP to sit in the top quartile of OECD nations.
• Make closer-to-market innovation across the UK more central to Innovation Strategy. Re-balance public funding for R&D and innovation (RDI) to provide more support for closer-to-market innovation infrastructure (e.g., demonstrators) for key sectors and industries, to help reduce the cost and time to translate technologies to market.
• Build on the UK’s world-leading RDI infrastructure: Invest in the innovation ecosystem by creating a recapitalisation fund of £100m per annum for non-profit distributing innovation, research and technology (IRT) organisations which do not have recourse to share holder funding for investment in buildings and facilities. This could be delivered either by extending the existing Research and Innovation Organisations (RIO) Infrastructure Fund or by creating a new fund for the purpose.
• Instil confidence for industry in the UK’s resilience and consistency: Give industry the confidence to make critical research and development investment in the UK by committing to clear, consistent, and ambitious long-term government policies and funding. This includes bolstering specific commitments to RDI aimed at advancing the UK’s path to Net Zero, signalling its commitment to addressing energy security and the climate crisis.
• Prioritise people and skills: Develop a comprehensive ‘workforce plan’ for RDI in the UK, encompassing education and skills, and involving the key players from industry, the IRT sector, and academia. Consider developing an innovation apprenticeship.

Read the full submission here.

About AIRTO
AIRTO is the Association of Innovation, Research and Technology Organisations. Its membership comprises approximately sixty of the principal organisations operating in the UK’s innovation, research and technology (IRT) sector. The IRT sector has a combined turnover of £6.9Bn, employing over 57,000 scientific and technical staff (equivalent to the academic staffing of the Russell Group of universities) and, for comparison, it is significantly larger than the network of Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany both in size and scope of activities. The sector contributes £34Bn to UK GDP. AIRTO’s members work at the interface between academia and industry, for both private and public sector clients in the UK and overseas. Members cover a very wide range of industries from for example, agriculture and food, pharma and bio, energy generation and distribution, manufacturing and the built environment. They may be industry specific or have cross-sectorial expertise. Members include Independence Research and Technology Organisations, Catapult Centres, Public Research Establishments, National Laboratories, university Technology Transfer Offices and privately held innovation organisations.