Economic Impact

The Research Councils have a responsibility to the tax-payer to provide compelling evidence that their investments lead to impacts that are both real and substantial.

As part of this commitment, Research Councils UK (RCUK) published Excellence with Impact in October 2007, which reports progress and future plans to increase the economic impact of the UK Research Councils. It also announced the results of three independent consultancy projects:

• Economic Impact Study, undertaken by PA Consulting and SQW.

  • Part 1: Summary
  • Part 2: Case studies
  • Part 3: Appendices
  • Recommendations for future work

• User Satisfaction Survey, undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

• Knowledge Transfer Categorisation and Harmonisation Project, undertaken by DTZ.

Background

January 2007: RCUK published Increasing the Economic Impact of the Research Councils . This outlined how the Councils aim to respond to the challenge of the "Warry" report on economic impact and announced the nomination of Professor Philip Esler, the Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Council to drive this agenda forward.

August 2006: Mr Peter Warry produced the "Warry" Economic Impact Report for the Director General of Science and Innovation advising him on how Research Councils could deliver - and demonstrate they are delivering - a major increase in the economic impact of their investments.

Pathways to Impact

The Research Councils UK Pathways to Impact website provides a single point of access to RCUK guidance and resources for completing the Research Councils Je-S application form and understanding the pathways towards economic and societal impacts. The site can be accessed here.