Our vision

Our vision is for an outstanding research and innovation system in the UK that gives everyone the opportunity to contribute and to benefit, enriching lives locally, nationally and internationally.

Research and innovation enriches and improves our lives and increases prosperity by creating knowledge that enables us to understand ourselves and the world around us. This also empowers us to focus on the many challenges we face as individuals and as communities, nationally and globally.

We will work with partners to shape a dynamic, diverse and inclusive system of research and innovation in the UK that is an integral part of society, giving everyone the opportunity to participate and to benefit.

Our mission is to convene, catalyse and invest in close collaboration with others to build a thriving, inclusive research and innovation system that connects discovery to prosperity and public good.

We bring together nine organisations with great depth and breadth of expertise, allowing us to connect research communities, institutions, businesses and wider society, in the UK and around the world.

This combination enables us to work across the whole research and innovation system, informed by our networks and expertise.

As the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation it is our responsibility to ensure the health of the system as a whole, now and in the future. As a steward of this system, we will work together with many other organisations.

These include our close partners at the heart of the research and innovation system such as higher education institutions and institutes, innovative businesses, investors, not-for-profit organisations and policy makers, and a wider set of partners such as those in the education system and civil society.

We will fulfil our stewardship role through the ways in which we catalyse, convene, incentivise, invest in and conduct research and innovation.

Council visions and missions

Last updated: 12 September 2023