The Great Debate UK

Unified funding required to stimulate innovation

-Danny Wootton is UK Innovation Director at Logica. The opinions expressed are his own. He will participate in a Reuters Budget live blog at noon GMT on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. Please tune in and join the discussion. -

It is pretty well accepted that budget cuts in public spending are inevitable, but it is important that a plan to effectively use the funding that will be available to stimulate the economy and drive innovation forward is developed.

This cannot be achieved through a fragmented approach. Overall, we need to have a joined up funding programme to stimulate innovation; from education to research, to incubation and through to commercialisation – in effect an innovation eco-system.

By laying out a path to an innovative culture over the coming years, it allows us to maximise the returns from limited future funding available.

Pre-budget report should support business innovation

-Danny Wootton is UK Innovation Director at Logica. He will participate in a Reuters pre-budget live blog on Dec. 9, at 12 p.m. British time. The opinions expressed are his own. -

The importance of innovation to PLCs and individual companies while the economy is in recession is relatively well understood. Recent research has shown that innovation funding has either remained protected or increased through this period.