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26 July 2000
ON "Q" FOR PUBLIC SECTOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
A new £10 million fund to help the "Q"s of this country receive the financial backing they need to commercially develop their inventions is part of package of measures announced today by the Financial Secretary Stephen Timms aimed at kick starting the commercialisation of the Government's intellectual property.
The fund will aim to help public sector research agencies bridge the gap in finance which currently prevents their technology being developed. The fund is being announced as part of the package of measures contained in the DTI's White Paper "Excellence and Opportunity: a science and innovation policy for the 21st Century", which is released today.
Stephen Timms said:
"We all know of the many examples where Britain's scientists have come forward with ground-breaking inventions but have not received the financial backing they need to fully exploit their work.
This new £10 million seed funding, together with a range of other important measures announced by the Government today, on top of the extra resources for science set out in the Spending Review document last week, shows our commitment to delivering a high quality science base in this country.
This package gives the clearest possible message that we want the public sector's research laboratories to exploit intellectual property for their own and Britain's benefit."
Following careful consideration of the report produced last year by John Baker on the commercialisation of public sector research and detailed examination of the technology market the Government has responded by announcing today:
the £10 million fund which will be used to fund proof of concept work such as feasibility studies which will encourage financial and other investors to back the technology invented by British public scientists;
- the appointment of a new champion for public sector research labs. Dr David Owen, Chief Executive of Medical Research Council Technology, the tech transfer arm of the MRC, has agreed to take on this exciting new role in advising Government on its commercialisation policies. He will retain his post at the MRC;
- the establishment of a science and commercialisation unit at Partnerships UK , the body established by the government to help departments and agencies top develop public private partnerships. Partnerships UK's unit will help public sector researchers who do not already have access to commercialisation to take the important first steps in exploiting their technology
- a cross government action plan to give public sector researchers the information and encouragement they need
- new freedoms for public sector labs and their researchers including changes to the Civil Service Management Code to allow public scientists to benefit financially from their inventions. These changes are set out in the Government's Science and Innovation White Paper published by the DTI today and in the Government's response to the Baker report.
Notes to editors
The Government's response to the Baker report is available below in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website.
For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.
Media links
The Science White Paper " Excellence and Opportunity: a science and innovation policy for the 21st Century" is available from the DTI Press Office on 020 7215 2345 or at theExternal links
More details of the Partnerships UK's unit can be obtained on 020 7270 5192.