Uniting the sector to make R&D; matter to more people

A thriving research and development (R&D) sector is essential for improving lives and livelihoods. ‘Betting big’ on R&D for the UK’s future prosperity will mean a succession of hard political choices, including prioritising public investment into the sector. This will demand a breadth of political champions and depth of political capital. Building on the success of our Wellcome-supported Discovery Decade programme, this proposal sets out a bold new future for CaSE as the catalyst for a fundamental reimagining of the relationship between R&D, the public and politicians. The objectives of our 5-year programme are: 1) Generating robust and open-source data on public opinions towards R&D. 2) Catalysing the adoption of new evidence-informed advocacy guidance and tools. 3) Integrating public perspectives into the heart of CaSE’s policy development process. 4) Restructuring CaSE’s income model to secure the sustained financial resources needed to deliver these functions in the long-term. Crafting and adopting a public-centred narrative for R&D would draw in new allies for the sector. Whether those are new organisations, new public supporters or new political champions – the R&D sector will benefit from a broader set of people having agency in our system and its political fortunes.