12 April 2021

Business R&D in Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

The Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (PEC) published a briefing on how Research and Development (R&D) remains a primary focus of innovation in policy.

The UK Government has a target to invest 2.4% of GDP in R&D by 2027 (UK R&D Roadmap).

However, without the right tools to measure R&D and have effective policies to support the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) R&D, the Government risks ignoring the full value of R&D in the UK economy and culture.

The briefing published by PEC examines the UK‘s R&D survey instruments, which recognise AHSS R&D, but that it likely under-counts it in practice – as some businesses do not identify their AHSS business model as R&D.

This publication touches upon the following topics:

• The difference between STEM R&D and AHSS R&D
• The absence of tools that measure AHSS R&D 
• The lack of policies that recognise AHSS R&D in innovation based UK businesses
• How companies are engaging in AHSS R&D to achieve social and environmental impact
• How the Government can support AHSS R&D as a tool through tax relief and policy interventions
• Five steps the Government can take to understand the value of AHSS R&D, which can contribute to innovation and productivity growth.

You can read the full NESTA briefing on Business R&D in AHSS here.