Source · Select Committees · Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Rejected
The Catapult network has the potential to help drive innovation and economic growth across the...
Conclusion
The Catapult network has the potential to help drive innovation and economic growth across the UK’s regions, but in regions with low R&D intensity and limited public investment, Catapults risk competing with local bodies for funds rather than fostering knowledge diffusion. (Conclusion, Paragraph 82)
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's observation, stating it disagrees with the recommendation and referencing a substantial body of existing evidence and research on the economic impacts of public R&D investment at national and regional levels.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The government disagrees with this recommendation but recognises the importance of understanding the economic impacts of public R&D investment. A substantial body of evidence already exists linking public and private R&D investment to productivity and GDP growth at a national level, including work by Oxford Economics (2020 The relationship between public and private R&D funding), Frontier Economics (2023 Rate of Return to Investment in R&D), and DSIT (2025 The value of public R&D) which found that, on average, £1 of civil public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term. There are also academic studies examining firm level impacts of publicly funded R&D, which has informed R&D investment policy over time. At a regional level, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (2021 From Ideas to Growth) research examined drivers of innovation and productivity across firms, regions and industries in the UK, while recently DSIT commissioned the OECD to evidence regional “leverage rates” (2025 Leveraging government R&D investment…). In addition, UKRI completed the Spin-Out Review previously, which looked at the strengths and opportunities to go further to deliver our commercialisation ambitions through our support for spin-out companies. 33