Eastern promise

7 February 2007

As rapid economic growth enables China and India to increase their investment in science and technology, UK entrepreneurs are being urged to collaborate on an international scale

The UK's scientists have been dealt a stark warning: collaborate with emerging economies such as China, India and South Korea or lose your lead in science and technology to these 'innovation hotstpots'. This is the central message of The Atlas of Ideas, an 18-month study by government think tank Demos, launched at an international conference last month.

The report pointed out that globalisation is changing the science and technology landscape and Western universities and research labs no longer have a monopoly on new ideas. Innovation is increasingly stemming from new places - particularly China, India and South Korea - and the UK needs to act before it's too late.

'Flowing through the airports that serve Asia's innovation hotspots are research scientists, corporate innovation managers and serial entrepreneurs, flooding back mainly from the US and carrying with them Western management methods, money, contacts and ambition,' say the study's authors, Charles Leadbetter and James Wildon. 'They are attracted by a potent cocktail: fast growing markets, plentiful state funding for research and middle class lifestyles in increasingly cosmopolitan cities.'

The figures certainly support their case. China's spend on R&D has increased by more than 20 per cent a year since 1999, while South Korea's R&D has increased tenfold since 1971. India churns out 2.5 million graduates in information, engineering and life sciences every year. And Asia's share of the world's scientific papers has risen from 16 per cent in 1990 to 25 per cent in 2004.

It's not all bleak for the UK, however. Beijing's university district may have as many engineers as the whole of western Europe, but only a small proportion of China's graduates are educated to European standards, and it has fewer international patents than Denmark. Moreover, much of the innovation and entrepreneurship has been driven by returnees rather than home-grown talent. In India, for example, 86 per cent of companies do no R&D and even promising start-ups from prestigious research institutions find it hard to raise funds.

Also, the kinds of innovation these Asian hotspots will champion isn't always clear. They already excel in fields such as nanoscience in China and bioinformatics in India, but their scientific output is still undeveloped compared to the size of their populations, says Demos. The study's authors quote Ze Zhang, vice president of Beijing University of Technology: 'Everyone talks constantly of innovation. But I think we're only just beginning to understand what this word really means. There's a lot of tension between the push for innovation and the capacity of the political system to deliver it.'

Yet there's no doubting the direction that these economies are heading in, and it's in the interests of the UK's science and technology community - and the world economy - that these innovators continue to exploit their potential. 'Britain should see them as an opportunity rather than a threat,' said Sir David King, the government's Chief Scientific Advisor, at the launch of the Demos study.

That means seeking opportunities for collaboration. China, India and South Korea not only provide new partners for London's young tech businesses to work with, but also new consumers for them to sell to. In addition, by working together, the innovators of the West and East will be better able to tackle global scientific challenges, such as developing low-carbon technology to reduce climate change and vaccines against new pandemics. 'More brains working on more ideas in more places around the world are good news for innovation,' say Leadbetter and Wildon.

Demos recommends the creation of a £100 million global R&D collaboration fund to allow British scientists to work together with, say, China on clean tech or India on climate science. It would also like to see the launch of a Darwin Scholarship programme to bring 200 Asian scientists a year to the UK.

The Royal Society has already taken steps towards achieving greater collaboration with the introduction of a Collaboration Grant of up to £6,000 a year, to cover researchers' travel, subsistence and research expenses. To qualify, scientists must collaborate on a single project including two teams or individuals, one in the UK and the other overseas.

Taking the initiative

While Sir David was generally supportive of the Demos findings and recommendations, he pointed to Britain's existing collaboration initiatives - such as the government's Global Science and Innovation Forum, launched at the end of last year. In a speech to the Royal Society shortly after the launch of the forum in November, Prime Minister Tony Blair said its purpose was 'to make the UK the first choice for business investment in R&D, and for foreign universities and scientists.'

Key to maintaining our reputation for scientific excellence, said Blair, was the transfer of knowledge 'from the academy to the marketplace'. He pointed to Britain's strengths - such as the strongest biotech sector in Europe - but warned that the total venture capital investment in early stage technology companies is not increasing and business R&D is not rising as a share of GDP.

British scientists also need to collaborate not just with India and China, says Demos, but with partners in Europe and the US to gain economies of scale. And the flow of people and ideas can't be one-sided: Britain needs to send scientific talent to Asia as well.

Sir David reminded the audience that Britain had been investing in India for many years and has now set up labs in China. A UK-India Education and Research Initiative has also been established, with £12 million funding each from the UK and India. 'That shows that India sees it as important to come in an as equal partner, which is something entirely new,' he said.

Changing the international perception of Britain as a science base would also help consolidate our position in this increasingly global scientific arena, said Sir David, with institutions such as the British Council presenting an image of a more modern Britain, rather than one steeped in kings and castles. 'We need to get the message across that the UK is becoming a centre for global innovation networks... and that our doors are open to international collaboration in a very real sense.'