The UK’s chemistry research sector needs new equipment to keep running. Imperial College London holds 270 active research grants worth over £285 million from the UK’s engineering and physical sciences funding body, and the instruments requested here will support that ongoing work. This matters because chemistry research underpins a massive slice of the UK economy. A 2007 Royal Society of Chemistry report found that the chemicals industry and related sectors contributed £258 billion in added value—21% of UK GDP—and supported over 6 million jobs. That output depends on a steady pipeline of fundamental science and the skilled researchers who carry it out. Without modern equipment, both the breakthroughs and the trained workforce that industry relies on would erode. The equipment will enable fundamental research across chemistry, with no single immediate application. That is the point: past investment in such core capabilities has produced the scientific advances and highly trained people that keep the UK’s chemistry-using industries globally competitive. Companies decide to locate or stay in the UK partly because of the quality of its university chemistry base. Keeping that infrastructure running is a condition for attracting future investment and developing new products and services.
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The National Importance of a vibrant and successful university Chemistry research sector cannot be underestimated. The RSC's report on the Economic Benefits of Chemistry showed that the UK's upstream chemicals industry and downstream chemistry-using sectors contributed a combined total of £258 billion in added-value in 2007, equivalent to 21% of UK GDP, and supported over 6 million UK jobs. This output is underpinned by some of the world's most successful University Chemistry research, reflecting the fruits of many years of investment. On-going fundamental research is essential, not only to maintain a continuing flow of scientific and technological breakthroughs, but also to ensure that the UK maintains a highly skilled and innovative workforce; it is through these trained people that the UK will adopt and advance new ideas, successfully exploit new technologies, and develop new and better products and services. The ability to develop and exploit chemically-derived technology will fuel economic activity, and is a necessary condition for attracting inward investment to the UK. The RSC report also showed that the quality of UK chemists and the reputation for excellence of the UK's university chemical science base significantly influences companies in decisions to locate within the UK, or to retain a UK-based research presence. Imperial College is an internationally leading centre for research, education and translation. It is the only UK higher education institution to focus exclusively on science, engineering, medicine and business. The College is renowned both for world-class fundamental research and for the translation of this research to benefit society and the economy; this combination was indeed defined as a core part of the College's mission at its foundation in 1907. Its research strengths reflect its focus on fundamental underpinning science and cover the breadth of engineering and the physical sciences. The College currently holds 270 research grants totalling over £285M that have been through the EPSRC's peer review process; these include 11 Programme Grants and 12 Platform Grants. The equipment requested is to underpin the above activity.
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