Shooting for the stars

What does a Labour R&D agenda look like?

Britain’s industrial history is infused with scientific discovery. Economic advances have been underpinned by new technologies, cutting edge research, and world-leading
discovery. As we look to the future, politicians from all parties want to continue this legacy and secure our position as a science superpower.

But innovation is slowing down. Productivity has been stagnating across the economy
for decades, despite globally competitive clusters in fields like life sciences and AI. And too often, R&D intensive activity has been geographically concentrated in the South, with 50% of government innovation funding going to just three cities – London, Oxford, and Cambridge.

So is a new strategy needed? Could the government adopt a different mix of funding and policy to better realise the benefits of science discovery, and diffuse innovation to businesses across the country? This fringe event at the Labour Party Conference 2022 will be an opportunity for national and local politicians and policy thinkers to set out their vision for a renewed innovation framework to transform the UK economy under a Labour government.

Additional information

Speakers

• Lucy Powell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
• Professor Richard Jones, University of Manchester
• Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire Mayor
• Alistair Tebbit, Head of UK Government Affairs & International Programmes, RELX
• Adam Hawksbee, Deputy Director, Onward (Chair)

This event has already taken place. Please see our full events list for details of our other events.