June 2016
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This seminar assessed policy priorities for promoting the growth of research and innovation in the energy sector. It followed the recent inquiry into the science budget and the Spending Review, and plans to establish a new overarching research governance body for the UK.
Sessions looked at the allocation of research commissioning funding ahead of the review into the Research Excellence Framework in Summer 2016, examining future opportunities for energy research and innovation centres in the context of a protected £4.7bn science resource budget over the course of this Parliament and the EU’s €80bn Horizon 2020 programme. Delegates discussed latest thinking on best practice in bringing the results of R&D successfully to market, and the perspectives of innovators and the investment sector, as well as established energy companies.
Further discussion focused on prospects for competition in innovation following the increase of the Department of Energy and Climate Change innovation fund to £500m, including £250m investment in an “ambitious” nuclear research programme to boost UK industry expertise, as well as priorities for overcoming supply chain and industry barriers for SMEs in key areas of energy generation, domestic and grid-scale energy storage, and energy management technologies.