Curiosity-driven research is ‘goose that lays the golden egg’

Curiosity-driven research is the “goose that lays the golden egg” and must be protected if the UK is to continue to accrue economic benefits from science, a minister has said.

Lord Vallance of Balham, who has been the UK’s science minister for just over 100 days, outlined his priorities for the role to a meeting of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee.

Chief among these, Lord Vallance said, the UK has been “highly dependent” on its knowledge-based economy and must protect and grow the “basic curiosity-driven science” undertaken by researchers.

“That is the work that ultimately is the goose that lays the golden egg that in years to come creates all the economic and societal benefits,” he said.

In the face of growing competition internationally, the former chief scientific adviser said the UK must not “neglect” or “rest on our laurels” when it comes to leadership in scientific research.

Lord Vallance said curiosity-driven research is something that must be funded – as it relates to issues that might be important 25 to 30 years in the future – which is separate from the areas that the government wants to prioritise now, such as its “missions”.

But he said this is not a field that the government should try and determine what goes on in, because it should be left to scientists themselves.

“It’s not an area where ministers should be dabbling,” he added. “As long as we’re sure we’ve got the construct right, it’s where the ingenuity, the creativity, the inventiveness of those doing the research should lead what happens.”

However, Lord Vallance did outline how government should have a role in another of his priorities – the country’s ability to develop ideas and the skills and infrastructure side of research and development.

“The ‘D’ in R&D we need to be good at. In this area, I think there is a very legitimate role for government to say what the priorities are and what should happen.”

Another of his key areas will be start-ups, which he said has “room for improvement” and where the country needs to get better at scaling up companies for growth.

Lord Vallance said all of these policy areas must be considered through different lenses and must be for the benefit of the public.

“It’s about ensuring that as we undertake our policies and the operation of this that we keep the society and citizen absolutely central,” he added.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com