Conclusion 3

There is insufficient clarity about, and visibility of, where UKRI is investing its money. Knowing where UKRI invests its money is essential to good financial management, while also helping organisations in the private sector to guide their investment decisions. For example, it can be more attractive for investors, and more effective for government, to invest in geographic regions where there are existing clusters of high-quality researchers, essential infrastructure and local skills. These types of decision are made easier if investors can easily access clear and comprehensive data on where government is already invested in R&I. In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the government said it would spend £20.4 billion on research and development in 2025–26, channelled through both UKRI and the other parts of government that fund research and development. Government intends to better define and justify its allocation of research and innovation funding under three categories: knowledge-driven basic research; targeted research aligned to government ambitions including economic growth; and investment to support innovative businesses including scale-up. But DSIT and UKRI do not yet have a system that brings together the data on all research and innovation spending across government. UKRI is developing its new grants “databank” with the aim of capturing data on research that it manages on behalf of other departments, as well as research that other departments manage directly. UKRI has a long-term ambition of linking up all such the data across government, but did not give us a target date for achieving this aim. recommendation To provide clear, comprehensive and useful data for government, external investors and the public about the overall R&I funding landscape, once its new data systems are in place, UKRI should: • provide government departments with ongoing access to data on UKRI funding allocations; and • publish these data on a routine basis. 4