British White Paper Focuses on Government Demand-side Stimulation for Nation's Innovation. (March 20, 2008)

John Denham, Britain's Secretary for Innovation, Universities and Skills in releasing the government's ninety-five page white paper Innovation Nation said: "The government has built up the supply side of innovation successfully [by increasing research funding] over the last 10 years now it is time to focus on the demand side."

David Sainsbury’s review of science and innovation policy was influential for the framing of the white paper. It urged the Brown government to make more imaginative use of procurement to stimulate new technology (From July 1998 to November 2006 Lord Sainsbury held the post of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Trade and Industry with responsibility for Science and Innovation in the House of Lords).

According to the white paper, every government department is to "publish an innovation procurement plan, setting out how it will embed innovation at the heart of procurement practices and encouraging them to engage with businesses at an early stage".

A revamped Small Business Research Initiative is to be focused more tightly on technology-based research, but the Secretary agreed that in the past government buyers often opted for safety-first “industry standard” solutions which could hinder the adoption of innovative solutions "which might become the industry standard in five years’ time".

The report in the Financial Times says Mr Denham claimed that for every innovative solution that failed, the government could save money overall from the ones that succeeded, and he has asked the National Audit Office to report on how it might treat departments that went for bold, new solutions. Mr Denham said he thought that if departments went through the right procedures and took sound decisions they "should not be criticised if an innovative approach doesn’t work".

Some of the other initiatives set out in the white paper are:

• providing 1,000 innovation vouchers a year by 2011, which small and medium-size businesses can use to work with a university, college or research organisation of their choice to develop a new product or service;

• doubling the number of knowledge transfer partnerships between businesses and higher education to boost competitiveness and productivity;

• introducing a new specialisation and innovation fund for the further education sector, and

• expanding the network of National Skills Academies.

One of the key issues that will be facing Australia's Senator Kim Carr as he administers his portfolios of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research is how to strike a harmonious balance between them so as to further the well-being of the nation.