To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support it has provided since May 2007 to support research and development.
The Scottish Government supports Research and Development (R&D) across the government, business and higher education sectors, using a number of mechanisms to promote excellence in research, its development and dissemination.
Data on R&D funding in the UK is published annually by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills within the Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) statistics publication, available at:
http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/science/science-funding/set-stats.
The latest data published for the Scottish Government relates to the 2007-08 and 2008-09 financial years, and shows that the Scottish Government contributed £137 million to R&D in the government and business sectors in 2007-08 and planned to spend £146 million in 2008-09.
In terms of support to higher education, the table below shows the Scottish Funding Council grants to universities for research and knowledge Transfer for each year from 2007-08 to 2009-10.
Academic Year | Research and Knowledge Transfer Grant (million) |
2007-08 | £263 |
2008-09 | £279 |
2009-10 | £297 |
Note: The figure for 2009-10 includes the main grant for Research and Knowledge Transfer and the World-Class Research/Knowledge Transfer & Innovation elements of the Horizon Fund.
Source: Scottish Funding Council.
Furthermore, there are other sectoral specific funding mechanisms including the £10 million Saltire Prize and £13 million WATERS scheme aimed at the accelerating the wave and tidal energy sector, and the Scottish European Green Energy Centre which has a focus on demonstration and deployment of low carbon technologies.