Recommendation 26

We asked if there were specific fields in which the UK is strong scientifically but where we are less good as a country at scaling it up.70 In correspondence following the session, DSIT explained that the Government Office of Science runs a technology insights unit that produces the Science Power Index, which measures international capabilities across the innovation lifecycle – from research to scale-up. DSIT stated that it published an Innovation Clusters Map, to provide as comprehensive a picture as possible of firm-level innovation activity in the UK. DSIT also stated that UKRI undertakes and supports analyses of areas where we have strong research activity, but where commercialising and scale up is lacking.71 DSIT told us said that in fields where the Government Office of 62 Q 60 63 Q 62 64 Q 61 65 C&AG’s Report, para 1; Q 32 66 Q 35 67 Q 2 68 Qq 12-13, 31 and 39 69 Q 12 70 Q 85 71 Letter from DSIT, 18 June 2025 16 Science has identified opportunities, it has developed sector plans that seek to build on the UK’s strategic advantage. DSIT pointed to quantum technologies and engineering biology as two areas of innovation where companies are starting to grow, but where there is scope to achieve huge impacts.72