Government Innovation Strategy will transform lives and livelihoods

Young creative business people meeting

UKRI welcomes the government’s ambitious Innovation Strategy and its commitment to strengthening the UK’s position as a world leader for research and innovation.

The success of the UK innovation ecosystem is built on collaboration and the exchange of people, knowledge and ideas between business and the UK’s excellent research base.

These interactions are essential to success, giving:

  • innovators access to diverse skills and capabilities from across the disciplines
  • researchers an understanding of the bottleneck challenges businesses face and the creative ideas for how to tackle them.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Chief Executive, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, said:

Innovation adds value, creating new products, services and ways of working. It is an incredibly powerful tool in tackling the world’s biggest challenges in areas such as health and climate change, and in building an inclusive economy.

Innovation thrives on diversity. Our research and innovation system must be open to the most diverse range of talents and experiences and must catalyse the movement of people between sectors and roles, bringing them together in new ways to fuel creativity.

UKRI will work with others to take down barriers and dissolve siloes, ensuring the work we support continues to enrich lives and communities in the UK and around the globe.

Turning ideas into reality

Innovate UK, as the UK’s innovation agency, will play the key leadership role in delivering the Innovation Strategy, drawing on the breadth and depth of expertise and partnerships across all of UKRI’s councils to unleash innovation in every nation and region of the UK.

Innovate UK CEO, Indro Mukerjee, said:

Innovation will play an important role to develop our economy and improve our society, so I welcome the Innovation Strategy and the mandate it gives to Innovate UK to further develop its role. I’m pleased to have the opportunity to lead the organisation to be able to do this.

Innovate UK will work to inspire innovative businesses to turn new ideas into reality, to involve the brightest and the best in our great innovation ecosystem and will strategically invest in innovation alongside private business.

Innovate UK will work with partners to ensure the Innovation Strategy becomes a springboard for positive and meaningful actions in business and industry.

UKRI will work with partners to support all aspects of the Innovation Strategy, delivering on our vision to foster an outstanding research and innovation system for the UK to which everyone has the opportunity to contribute and from which everyone benefits.

Further information

Announced today in support of the Innovation Strategy:

Top image:  Credit: scyther5 / Getty Images

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