Guest Articles
North East England driving growth of life sciences sector in the UK
With two internationally renowned science parks, the UK’s largest research active public health system, and world leading knowledge and talent at our universities, it’s no surprise North East England is widely recognised as one of the leading destinations for...
Towards a more research-intensive UK economy: the Place Agenda
Here at the Campaign for Science and Engineering our work on increasing research and development (R&D) intensity has focussed on two main strands. The first is working with Government to give them recommendations, published in our report Building Scientific...
Kickstarting a regional R&D movement Could Catapult Quarters be the solution?
For centuries, the UK has been a home for global innovation. Scientific progress has not only transformed our economy, it has been the single biggest driver of productivity and helped to improve our lives for the better. As we look to the future, research and...
Coronavirus Handling & Bio Safety Levels
Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease it causes (COVID-19) is what we are all talking about at the moment. The importance of testing and prompt diagnosis has now become abundently evident to all. But what is involved in handling, processing, storing, and disposing...
Faced with a crisis, we are forced to innovate
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates once again that scarcity and the most severe constraints force people to innovate, says Nesta’s Chief Executive Ravi Gurumurthy It is a striking feature of every humanitarian crisis that when people are faced with scarcity and the...
Inclusion more important than ever
WISE the campaign for greater gender balance has urged employers, particularly those working in science, engineering, technology and manufacturing (STEM), to keep inclusion on their agenda in these difficult times, highlighting that diversity brings greater...
Research parks can help turn the light-bulb moment of science into business success
Dr Malcolm Parry is chief executive of Surrey Research Park. Based on 35 years of experience, I am a proponent of the idea that “place matters”. Businesses benefit from being located in an environment willing to share the risks involved in fostering entrepreneurship....
Are we ready for AI?
Dr Beth Singler is the Homerton College junior research fellow in artificial intelligence. With our lives increasingly affected by artificial intelligence (AI), there's a need for a big conversation that reaches beyond technologists. I'm a huge science fiction fan but...
The Word on Everyone’s Lips: Sustainability
Yoni van Breukelen, Edinburgh Technopole, Agri-EPI Centre Sustainability is a hot topic as the world’s population continues to rise, bringing with it a demand for increased food production. There is growing pressure on food producers to ensure that the systems in...
5G, an enabling technology
The transition to future smart cities is being driven by increased urbanisation, increased stress on resources, inadequate existing infrastructure and rapidly improving technology capabilities. However, the race to become...
Living in a world where the pace of change is relentless
Introduction We live in a world where the pace of change is relentless. Society is getting to grips with the climate crisis we face which has led to political action in the form of a commitment to net zero as well as increased industrial awareness of how we need to...
Make the connection for innovation success
This Autumn, the government announced £20million investment to create new University Enterprise Zones. These will boost knowledge exchange by helping universities to provide specialist business support, incubators and accelerators in a bid to enhance R&D and drive...
How R&D funding is driving the UK towards a low carbon future
In June 2019, the UK became the world’s first major economy to put into legislation legally binding targets to reduce carbon and pollutant emissions. The Road to Zero report outlined the government’s strategy towards cleaner road transport and transition to zero...
Powering Britain’s Battery Revolution
The strong progress in recent years in reducing automotive CO2 emissions has stalled as the limits of internal combustion engine technology are reached. A technological transition involving 15m passenger cars is required. Most manufacturers are concluding that the...
How the UK can compete as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy
The public demand for action on climate change is clear. Climate strikes and protests throughout the year, culminating in a global day of action that preceded Greta Thunberg’s appearance at the UN Climate Action Summit are making this an issue global leaders cannot...