Buying Power?

Is the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) for procuring R&D driving innovation in the UK?

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At a time when the UK government is acutely aware of the need to drive economic growth whilst cutting public spending, it has sought ways to make better use of its buying power. With around £220 billion a year spent every by the UK government on goods and services, public procurement represents a potentially powerful lever for innovation. Yet until now many policies have failed to bring about the desired results. The reformed Small Business Innovation Research Initiative (SBRI) may be a potential solution.

The SBRI is a procurement programme is modelled on the highly successful American Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) scheme. After a faltering start and a campaign for renewal, a reformed version was launched in 2008. The newly reformed SBRI is a dramatic improvement on previous efforts and finally offers an opportunity to effect significant impact on technology development by SMEs, problem solving in the public sector and the economy as a whole. Although the outlook is promising, the SBRI faces a number of challenges.

In this report, we analyse seven of the most advanced competitions, from the perspective of public sector bodies and small businesses, and outline a set of recommendations on how to build upon the early successes of the reformed SBRI to ensure it reaches its full potential.

Published
June 2010

Author
Kirsten Bound and Ruth Puttick