Lack of British investment in UK research, whilst overseas investors show their faith: The UK is 152
Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford states that UK firms are behind those in France and Germany, and are below the EU average, with under-investment in the UK having a knock-on effect on productivity.
Foreign investment means UK university research largely benefits companies overseas. Today the University of Oxford will announce a huge investment pot intended to turn the best ideas of its students and graduates into the world-beating companies of tomorrow. The Oxford Sciences Innovation fund has swelled from £320m to nearly £600m in under a year.
All the new money comes from just five investors: three from China, one from Singapore and one from the Middle East. Professor Richardson stated that ‘40% of the R&D spend in the UK is by subsidiaries of foreign companies. British businesses are very loath to invest and that really has to change.’
It seems that foreign investors and companies appreciate our universities, while British ones do not. The brightest talents and ideas fostered in UK universities will largely accrue to the benefit of overseas companies.
Until the 1980s British investment in research and development was among the highest in the world.
The IMF league table of business investment as a percentage of national income shows the UK as one-hundred-and-fifty-second, between Bosnia and Madagascar. As the Chancellor pointed out, French workers produce more in four days than UK workers do in five.
A spokesperson for employers group the CBI pointed to a recent survey of its members which suggested seven out of ten businesses were intending to maintain or increase investment this year. The facts show, however, that business investment has fallen this year and last, even while the economy has grown.
The lack of productivity in our economy was highlighted just this week by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. Pointing out the fact that we are less productive than we were a decade ago, he said ‘If you think that's odd, it's because it is - it has never happened in the lifetime of anyone alive.’