Our expertise and world-class research would translate

Scotland can cash in on £5bn market, says Sir John Arbuthnott

THE scale of opportunities available to Scotland’s world-class research community in China’s giant economy is vast – with that nation’s total research budget weighing in at between £4 billion and £5bn per year.

I have just returned from a short but productive trip to China, where I met influential scientific and research figures to see where the Royal Society of Edinburgh could bring value to enhance scientific and cultural links between the two countries.

I am enormously optimistic. There is a desire and a will in China to work with world-leading, high-quality researchers – as we have here in Scotland. There are aspects of our own contribution to the world that the Chinese admire and would wish to work with us on. However, a major obstacle remains: can we meet Chinese ambition with match-funding that could create a step-change in Scotland’s research base?

The Chinese recognise science is vital to creating and growing successful economies, hence the huge scale of their research budget, 2 per cent of GDP with a target of 2.5 per cent. In the UK, our budget has been frozen at 0.68 per cent of GDP since 2010. While our minister for science deserves credit for protecting that level at a time of austerity, it ill-behoves a government seeking to create a knowledge-based economy to see the research budget as one of relatively low priority.

Scotland can gain enormously from access to Chinese partnerships and funding. However, the problem is likely to lie in our ability to match-fund what the Chinese are prepared to invest. We need to rise to the challenge to maximise the opportunities.

Those I met included Professor Yang Wei, president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Professor Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Both are on the science and education steering group that reports directly to the prime minister, sets science and education policy and provides guidelines for government budgeting. From my conversations with them and others, it is apparent the Chinese see many areas where collaboration and partnerships would be beneficial – for example in renewable energy, particle physics, marine science, biodiversity, plant genetics and food security as well as in areas of medical research such as stem cell technology, neuroscience and infectious diseases.

Our universities are already building relationships in China, and there are splendid examples of collaboration. However, much still needs to be done.

Aside from the financial challenge – which will require the support of the Scottish and UK governments – we must also ensure that we have a regular dialogue, in particular