Rt Hon David Willetts MP‚ Minister for Universities and Science addressed a packed auditorium of over 200 business leaders‚ MPs‚ research funders and academics who attended the SETsquared Changing Worlds event in Westminster last week.
The event which brought together the SETsquared Partnership universities of Bath‚ Bristol‚ Southampton and Surrey‚ demonstrated the economic and social impact of our research in a unique exhibition and a series of presentations. The Minister congratulated the four universities on their ten year collaboration‚ and recognised their contribution to the UK economy and the UK’s reputation for international quality research.
The research case studies presented are estimated to have contributed many billions of pounds to the UK economy, and improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people living in the developing world. Details of these projects may be found at www.setsquared.co.uk/impact
The case studies presented from Southampton were:
– Transparency and Open Data: data.gov.uk
– Pioneering optical fibres research
– Understanding climate change
– Striking Gold: innovation in performance sports
– Reducing aircraft noise
Event chair, Professor Glynis Breakwell, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bath stated that: “The SETsquared Partnership strongly believes that maintaining the environment for a high performing research base within the HE sector is essential if the UK is to remain a global leader and a prized destination for international talent.”
She also asked the Minister to note that “Our research excellence will not survive a stop-go funding approach which would cut off funding for a few years until we hope the public purse will be stronger.”