The Innovation and Research Caucus will act as a permanent bridge between the UK's research funders and the social scientists who study how innovation actually works. This matters because UKRI, ESRC, and Innovate UK spend billions of pounds each year on research and innovation, but they lack a dedicated, independent source of evidence on which funding strategies are most effective. The Caucus fills that gap by generating and curating high-quality, actionable insights about what works in the research and innovation system, for whom, and under what conditions. If successful, the Caucus will directly shape how public money is allocated to support everything from university labs to business R&D. It could help funders avoid backing ineffective programmes and instead invest in interventions that genuinely strengthen the UK's research landscape. The model is designed to be agile—responding to short-term policy needs while also tackling longer-term strategic questions about the health of the innovation ecosystem. The result is a more evidence-driven, efficient system for supporting the research that underpins economic growth, public services, and technological progress.
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The ambition of the Innovation and Research Caucus (I&RC) is to establish itself as the go to intermediary for actionable innovation and research funding policy insights. Building on the legacy of the current Innovation Caucus, a key focus of the I&RC will be to both champion and leverage social science research on the innovation and research system in the UK, and provide powerful actionable insights as to what works, where and why. The I&RC model will provide a robust and actionable evidence base for the funders to identify the most effective funding and support interventions to strengthen the research and innovation landscape in the UK. With a focus on generating and curating high-quality evidence and insights to inform future strategy and delivery plans of UKRI, ESRC and Innovate UK, the I&RC will work collaboratively with the funders to identify and deliver against agreed priorities. Our proposed approach will see Phase 1 work with the funders and key stakeholders to develop the work programme of the I&RC. Using a design thinking inspired approach the Co-Directors, Professors Vorley and Roper, will engage in consultation to ensure that the I&RC meets the needs of the funders, before developing and gaining feedback on the proposed model. The work programme will be subject to review across the duration of the I&RC, although retain sufficient agility to respond to funder requests within each period of the work programme. To meet the requirements of the funders, Phase 2 of the I&RC model will be structured around a series of strategic and responsive projects to address short and medium-term priorities. All projects will be agreed in conjunction with the Operations and Investment Management Group, and have a light touch project initiation document specifying the project aim, deliverables and intended outcomes. This model has proved highly effective in the current Innovation Caucus - providing a means to manage the expectation of the funder and capacity of the core team to deliver high quality projects. While projects will provide the organisational basis of the I&RC the model is structured around a series of core capabilities, designed to meet the current and future needs of the funders.
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