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Business and innovation

Physics and the Economy – our latest findings

13 April 2021

Measuring the size, shape and performance of the physics industry is crucial to understanding how the sector contributes to the UK and Irish economies, and its potential role in the future. We are refreshing our analysis.


The IOP’s 2020-24 strategy ‘Unlocking the Future’ (PDF, 141KB) centralises around unlocking capability in the UK and Ireland, so society can fully benefit from the new industrial age. To do this, the physics industry must be a healthy and thriving sector.

The Physics and the Economy project is run every four years by the IOP to assess and quantify the contribution of physics businesses to the economy in the UK and Ireland. The project produces core economic insights on the physics sectors in the UK and Ireland, providing a measure of their performance and health. This project is part of the IOP’s productivity programme, which also includes the Innovation Survey and the Workforce Skills project.

The Physics and the Economy project was last run in 2016-17, analysing data from 2011-2015. This time, the project will not only provide the most up-to-date snapshot of the sectors, but also review their performance across the past decade.

Tenders for 2021 are now closed. More information on our latest project and on the project in general is on the Physics and the Economy page in our productivity programme section.

Contact [email protected] for more information.