The Importance of Long Term Investment in Fundamental Research

10 July 2010

This statement summarises the RSC's position on the importance and value of the funding of fundamental science research to the UK economy and the wider economical and societal benefits of such research. The position is supported by the publication of two major reports.

A report commissioned by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and RSC on The Economic Benefits of Chemistry Research to the UK (October 2010) finds the UK's upstream chemicals-producing sector and downstream chemistry-using sectors contributed a combined total of £258 billion in 2007, equivalent to 21 % of UK GDP, and supported over 6 million UK jobs. 

The second report (June 2010), commissioned by the Institute of Physics (IoP) and the RSC on the Finances of Chemistry and Physics Departments in UK Universities, shows that the chemistry departments surveyed were operating at a deficit in 2007/8.