Research and analysis

Science and innovation: rates of return to investment

Synthesizes the evidence base on the rate of return to public investment in science and innovation.

• From: Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
• Published: 22 July 2014

Documents

Rates of return to investment in science and innovation

Ref: BIS/14/990

PDF, 4.19 MB, 176 pages

Rates of return to investment in science and innovation - underlying data

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 35.7 KB

Details

This report confirms that social returns are significant; normally 2 or 3 times larger than private benefit and persisting long into the future. It shows evidence confirming that every £1 spent by government yields a return of between 20 to 50 pence per year in perpetuity.

Case study evidence in the report on 2 key industrial strategy sectors (aerospace and life sciences) illustrate the importance of government support to help reduce risk and facilitate links to academia.

Published 22 July 2014