Memorandum submitted by Professor Julie
Gray (FC 09)
FEASIBILITY OF
ESTIMATING THE
ECONOMIC IMPACT
OF PLANT
SCIENCE RESEARCH
1. I have been an active university-based
researcher since 1983. I was initially attracted to the Plant
Science field by the opportunities arising from plant genetic
modification, an area that the UK was a world leader in at the
time. Of course, all that has changed. The actions of NGOs and
other interest groups effectively chased all commercial GM plant
research out of the UK, and the EU, in the late 1980s. Although
in my early research career I was co-discoverer on 14 industrially-funded
patents (concerning the potential to manipulate fruit ripening
and drought tolerance) it is now over twenty years since I have
received any industrial funding for my research. I am dependant
on Research Council funding as there are virtually no UK commercial
interests in this area to approach for funding.
2. In a time when it is imperative that
we double crop yields, whilst improving their tolerance to climate
change, I believe that an understanding of how plants respond
to their environment has never been more important. In addition
to Plant Science's critical importance to food sustainability
and climate change mitigation, I expect that photosynthetic and
growth studies will be key in providing biofuels for the future.
However, as the UK currently has such a poor commercial base in
crop science research, it would not be meaningful to judge our
research outputs in terms of economic impact. I believe that it
would be catastrophic to Plant Science research to base any future
funding model on economic impact as plant research could never
compete favourably with, for example, medically based research
areas, with their much larger UK industrial base.
3. Summary: Judging Plant Science research
outputs in terms of economic impact is simply not feasible in
the UK. Despite the critical importance of global crop productivity
there is virtually no commercial activity in crop improvement
in the UK. If future research funding is at all dependent on economic
impact, UK Plant Science research could be effectively closed
down - just when it is most needed.
Professor Julie Gray
Chair in Plant Cell Signalling
University of Sheffield
January 2010
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