Policy paper

BEIS official development assistance (ODA): research and innovation - statement of intent

Updated 26 September 2019

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

This paper sets out what BEIS aims to achieve through our Official Development Assistance (ODA) research and innovation funding and how we will achieve it. 2 separate documents set out the strategies for the 2 main BEIS research and innovation ODA policy levers – the Newton Fund and the Global Challenges Research Fund.

The UK Aid Strategy

The goal of the UK Aid Strategy (November 2015) is to further the sustainable development and welfare of developing countries while placing international development at the heart of our national security and foreign policy. The strategy is underpinned by a very clear guiding principle: that the UK’s development spending will meet our moral obligation to the world’s poorest and support our national interest. The strategy sets out 4 objectives for UK Aid:

• strengthening global peace, security and governance
• strengthening resilience and response to crises
• promoting global prosperity
• tackling extreme poverty

This will support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The Aid Strategy recognises that the UK’s world leading research and innovation system has an essential role to play in achieving these objectives. Science and technology have driven huge changes in the lives of the poor. Investments in scientific and technological knowledge – from better medicines and vaccines to the ‘green revolution’ (new seeds and farming practice able to produce high yields) – have driven major development advances. Infant mortality has more than halved in the poorest countries, and hunger has reduced significantly. This has come about not only because of the quality of the research but also because of a good understanding of what is needed to translate it into practice. Knowing what works and does not from both these perspectives is central to effective development.

Research and innovation has a critical role to play in tackling global challenges which most significantly impact upon developing countries. The major drivers of today’s development challenges are:

• the youth bulge - higher child survival rates mean that there are now 1.5 billion young people living in less developed countries, with 1 in 4 adolescents living in Africa by 2030
• urbanisation - populations in the developing world are increasingly urbanised – putting greater strain on health, education, governance and food systems
• global health security - combating antimicrobial resistance and pandemic diseases that cross borders; as shown by Ebola and Zika, disease outbreaks will be particularly hard to tackle in large, under-resourced slum centres
• fragility and conflict - extreme poverty and ill health will increasingly be concentrated in low income fragile and conflict affected states, with millions affected by protracted instability and displacement
• climate change - with broad reaching economic and social implications, including for agriculture, health and humanitarian risk

The UK is well placed to leverage our research and innovation expertise to address these challenges. The UK’s scientific research base and technical expertise is one of our greatest assets. UK universities and industry are global leaders in a wide range of scientific disciplines. The commitment by government to use research to inform our policies and how we go about doing this (chief scientific advisers etc) is globally respected. As today’s developing countries develop they will increasingly turn to the UK not for financial resources, but for thought leadership and technical expertise.

However, investment in research and innovation is not enough. We also need to support developing countries to increase their scientific capacity and move towards a knowledge economy. The most successful examples of research and innovation mitigating development problems come from local researchers collaborating within a global research system. Research and innovation development aid empowers developing country researchers, will build their capacity and address critical development challenges with innovative solutions.

BEIS objective

Our primary objective for BEIS ODA research and innovation funding is to reduce poverty by generating and putting into use knowledge and technology to address development challenges and advance development for the poorest people and countries. We will seek to maximise the practical impact of research and innovation to improve the lives and opportunities of the global poor. In achieving this we will grow the research and innovation capacity of developing countries, as well as contributing to the continued strength of the UK’s research and innovation system, and support our wider prosperity and global influence.

Our strategy

In order to maximise the impact of ODA research and innovation investments on development outcomes we will focus resources on addressing practical development problems where there is a clear pathway to impact. This means that all the research and innovation we will fund will have the potential to have significant practical benefits.

Our strategy for achieving this objective has 3 elements:

• partnering with developing countries to use research and innovation to solve their specific development challenges, and in doing so increase their capacity
• working with developing countries and developed countries to use research and innovation to solve global development challenges
• using dedicated funding to focus part of the UK’s world leading research and innovation system on global development challenges where the UK can make a significant impact

Building partnerships will be a critical enabler to achieving these objectives. By building partnerships between researchers in the UK and researchers, policy makers, the private sector and development initiatives in developing countries, we will help to underpin the pathways to impact for BEIS funded ODA research and innovation. We will also sustainably strengthen knowledge systems in developing countries to build their domestic capacity and capability to carry out and use research and innovation to accelerate their economic growth and escape from poverty.

We have 2 core policy interventions to deliver this strategy and achieve our objectives,the Newton Fund and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The Newton Fund’s primary focus will be on building partnerships with designated developing countries to support their research and innovation capacity to solve development challenges, whilst the GCRF’s primary focus will be on using the UK’s research and innovation strengths to identify the solutions to global challenges. To ensure that the 2 funds are coherent and have maximum impact they will be overseen by one BEIS ODA Research and Innovation Governance Board. We also need to ensure they align effectively with other ODA funding such as DfID research, the Prosperity Fund, Fleming Fund, Ross Fund and Soft Power Fund. We will therefore continue to work in partnership with DfID, Treasury and across government to ensure coherence across all the related ODA funds.

Newton Fund

The Newton Fund is a dedicated fund to develop science and innovation partnerships with developing countries that promote their economic development and social welfare. The fund supports 16 partnerships agreed at intergovernmental level between the UK and developing countries. Current partner countries are:

• Brazil
• Chile
• China
• Colombia
• Egypt
• India
• Indonesia
• Kazakhstan
• Kenya
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• Philippines
• South Africa
• Thailand
• Turkey
• Vietnam

We will invest £585 million between 2016 and 2021, matched by funding from the partner countries. With each partner country, we have developed a strategy setting out the development challenges the Newton Fund partnership will address and how. Each partnership is unique, but includes a mix of joint research and innovation programmes to address the partner country’s development challenges and global development challenges. The UK delivery partners are the research councils, academies, Innovate UK, British Council and Met Office.

The Global Challenges Research Fund

The GCRF is a dedicated funding stream to mobilise the UK research and innovation system towards global development challenges, including through collaboration with researchers in developing countries. GCRF works at the research base level and decisions on research priorities are made independently from BEIS. Between 2016 and 2021, GCRF will invest £1.5 billion for collaborative research and innovation through UK universities and research organisations, delivered by the research councils, academies, funding bodies and UK Space Agency. Because similar challenges can affect multiple countries, the GCRF does not have an explicit priority list of developing countries, instead GCRF funding supports universities, industry and research organisations to do disciplinary and interdisciplinary challenge-led research and quick responses to emergencies where urgent research is needed. While not a requirement, the GCRF may support bilateral and multilateral programmes with partners in other countries, but these will complement and not duplicate activities most appropriately supported under the Newton Fund. As part of the GCRF the Space Agency programme focuses on practical applications which have an effect on the ground, as well as supporting applied research, human capacity building and skills development and requires match funding.

Expected impact

By 2021 we will have made substantial progress in addressing global development challenges and the specific development challenges of developing countries through:

• developing new knowledge, science and technological and policy solutions to development challenges and the commercialisation of innovative technologies and research
• increasing the science and innovation capability of partner countries

Although research outcomes cannot be predicted we will focus our funding on those areas that have the strongest pathways to impact and the UK has the strongest demonstrable expertise in order to deliver maximum benefits to the global poor. Work will be undertaken with delivery partners, ODA evaluation experts and DfID to develop this theory of change for the GCRF which will set out the expected pathways to change that the fund is trying to deliver. Using the theory of change, an evaluation strategy will then be developed setting out questions to be addressed and approaches for doing so. This will also build upon recent best practice including evaluations of the Newton Fund, DfID programmes and DfID-Research Council partnerships. Evaluation will be used to develop a richer understanding of ‘what works’, in order to improve programme design and implementation. Impact will be monitored closely for Newton and the GCRF, with an independent evaluator assessing the effectiveness of the funds.

Our intent is that the new knowledge and possible solutions to development challenges will be used in developing countries to alleviate and ultimately solve social and economic problems and improve lives. For example previous UK research and development aid has funded research on household air pollution, testing a number of strategies and technologies to reduce the pollution faced daily by almost 3 billion people. Through new funding we may develop new knowledge and possible solutions to rapid urbanisation to help mega cities develop and prosper as healthy and prosperous places to live that can be used by city governments. We may identify mechanisms to better manage fishing grounds for the benefit of artisanal communities. And we may have developed new strains of staple foods like rice that can cope with the impact of climate change, ensuring that the world can grow enough to eat, as previous ODA funding has done with pearl millet.

The UK research and innovation system of universities, research institutes and industry will have responded to the availability of dedicated ODA funding through GCRF for UK based development research by undertaking substantial programmes of ODA focused research. Through the GCRF we will be funding substantive programmes on for example sustainable food, clean water and sanitation, renewable energy, sustainable cities, innovation economic growth and refugee crises. This will deliver impacts similar to previous UK research and development aid. For example previous UK ODA research has helped drive the worldwide health response to avian influenza, rapidly gaining a better understanding of the disease and necessary control and management strategies. Applied research has helped improve diarrhoeal disease control and prevention in Malawi by identifying major sources of infection and supporting improvements to community health activity. Research is also helping to understand the dynamics of multiple refugee crises and how to address the needs of those forcibly displaced from their homes.

BEIS ODA funding will also have resulted in the commercialisation of innovative research by businesses in developing countries as new products and services. If successful these products and services will overcome development challenges to improve the economic and social welfare of people. For example previous UK research and development aid has underpinned a number of new mobile education technologies that are being commercialised. Through new funding we may commercialise energy research into new forms of clean energy generation and transmission that can be produced at price points suitable for developing countries, as has been done with ODA funding on bioenergy in East Africa. We may be able to commercialise satellite mapping applications to help developing countries to sustainably exploit their natural resources as a firm basis for inclusive economic growth. And we may be able to exploit natural flora and fauna for eco-tourism and new exports that can underpin economic growth. We can also use funding to help build the resilience of communities to cope with natural disasters and epidemic disease by combining scientific modelling and medical discovery with local knowledge, community engagement and a better understanding of the histories and cultures of affected populations.

To produce this new knowledge and possible solutions and commercialise innovative research by 2021 there will be strong self-sustaining Newton Fund research and innovation partnerships in place between the UK and partner countries in support of their research and innovation capacity. There may also be bilateral and multilateral partnerships with other developed countries established through GCRF. These partnerships will include a range of ongoing joint research programmes, joint research centres and collaborative innovation programmes. For example we may have joint research centres with China on air quality, natural hazards, agri-tech, and climate science. We may establish joint programmes with Japan and Sweden to work together on major global challenges. We may have numerous annual joint research calls, often for the first time, with all Newton countries – Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia and Thailand. And we may have a large number of innovation partnerships between our catapult centres (public-private innovation partnerships) and small businesses in developing countries.

To make the research and innovation partnerships successful we will have worked where necessary with the partner countries to build their capacity. This capacity building will include mobility placement schemes for researchers in UK institutions, sharing our research grant and peer review expertise, building institutional links, specific skills training and access to specialist equipment. For example we will have fellowship exchange schemes between the academies in the UK and developing countries – in engineering, health and the arts and humanities. We will have specific university to university links exchanging staff and running joint research programmes. And we will have helped countries like Colombia and Indonesia reform their research and innovation system architecture, improving peer review and grant awarding processes.

Our research and innovation system will also be maintained and improved. For example our universities and institutes will have access to unique biological material from Colombia and Brazil that could be crucial in developing new medicines. Through the Newton Fund existing international partnerships will be strengthened and new long-term sustainable partnerships formed, supporting wider UK diplomatic aims. For example undertaking new work with Chile in their unique biome, bringing the South East Asian countries together to research rice for the first time. Through both Newton and GCRF we will be addressing significant global challenges that matter to developing countries but also impact on the UK. This includes diseases, climate change, sustainable growth, migration, increasing our own preparedness and resilience to global challenges.