Across the world of science, the boundaries are being redrawn. A new political emphasis is being placed on science and innovation by countries such as China, India, and South Korea. At the same time, a gradual process of ‘offshore innovation’ is underway, as higher-value R&D begins to flow overseas. Confronted by these trends, Britain has a choice. It can either retreat into a scientific version of protectionism. Or it can embrace the new opportunities for networking and collaboration that such transformations create. This two-year project, to be carried out in partnership with the Foreign Office and others, will provide a compelling framework for understanding the new geography of science.
The project has five central aims:
1. To map emerging trends and patterns in the globalisation of science, with a primary focus on three countries: China, India and South Korea;
2. To forecast how such trends might evolve over the next 10-15 years;
3. To identify new models of networking and collaboration between scientists, policymakers and companies in China, India, South Korea and the UK;
4. To analyse the implications of these trends for science policy and investment in the UK and Europe;
5. To produce an agenda-setting publication which sparks widespread policy and media debate.
Research themes and questions will include:
1. Knowledge mapping and forecasting
2. Networks, competition and collaboration
3. Science and sustainable development
4. New metrics and indicators
5. Talent attraction and knowledge diasporas
6. Innovation, precaution and public engagement
