OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE
4.11 The Technology
Foresight exercise is a useful mechanism for identifying broad
research priorities in the United Kingdom and for widening the
network of contacts between academia and industry. Foresight
has had and will have a significant influence on Government funding
of research. This can be seen directly through initiatives including
the Foresight Challenge Fund, but also indirectly for example
by the inclusion of Foresight-related activities in the evaluation
criteria of the recent university Research Assessment Exercise
(which is used to allocate research money by the Higher Education
Funding Councils). We are concerned, therefore, about the continuing
lack of awareness of Foresight, in particular in small firms,
and the apparent lack of consultation on initiatives designed
to support research in areas identified as priorities. In our
enquiry into OST[12]
we discussed the problem that although in companies with an R&D
base there is an awareness of Foresight there are also a large
number of companies in which there is nobody who can even identify
areas of science that would be of value to them. We recommend
that the Government and industry take more effective action to
make innovators both within and outside universities aware of
the opportunities (including funding initiatives) that result
from Foresight. Subsequent Foresight reports should be made more
accessible to small businesses.
4.12 We welcome initiatives
such as the "Business Mentoring and Incubator Challenge"
which resulted from the findings of the Health and Life Sciences
Foresight report[13]:
this will provide targeted business support to start-up biotechnology
companies and it should be a direct help to those people wishing
to take innovative ideas out of the university or research institute
laboratories and into new companies. However, the question of
where the funding will come from for such schemes could be made
much clearer. Whilst we do not wish to divert more money towards
Foresight, the Government should conduct an audit of all research
spending by Departments, the Research Councils and the Higher
Education Funding Councils in an attempt to clarify the impact
that Foresight has had on the allocation of public research funds.
4.13 Foresight could
and should have a major impact on improving innovation and competitiveness
in the United Kingdom. It should not, however, be used to restrict
creative research in universities which does not yet have a perceived
application. Nor should areas of research that have been defined
as important but of lower immediate priority be abandoned as a
result. It is also all too easy for innovative lines of research
to fall between two sectors. We are not convinced that the existing
measures are adequate to ensure that support is available for
ideas falling across sectors and, in particular, for those that
fall outside traditional sectors. We recommend that the Government
establish a clear policy, in the context of Foresight, of seeking
out "misfit" lines of research which fall across or
between sectors and evaluate them separately if necessary.
4.14 We wish to see
Foresight used as a force for driving innovation forward in the
United Kingdom. We recognise that large companies will always
play a major role at least in the earlier stages of an exercise
such as Foresight, and that they are important to the innovation
process not merely in their relationship with actual and potential
suppliers. However, we recommend that the Government refocus
its efforts to ensure, as far as possible, that Foresight is not
entirely dominated by large companies and is recognised by small
and non-science based businesses as relevant to their needs.
12 1st Report (1995-96), Office of Science and Technology,
HL Paper 11,
ISBN 0 10 401196 3. Back
13 Results
of the Business Mentoring and Incubator Challenge were announced
by the DTI on 22 January 1997. The eight winning groups
will share £970,000. Back
