Science and innovation

In the summer of 2024, the IOP hosted a dinner and roundtable discussion with high-level stakeholders in government, academia and industry from the UK space science and related sectors. 

The purpose of the event was to begin a process of articulating the importance of a strategic plan for UK space science and to consider some of the parameters that could shape it. Its aim was to gather a range of views and insights on space science in the UK, with discussions around its strengths and weaknesses, as well as national and wider environmental opportunities and threats.

We will build on our recent report showing physics' role in key green technologies like nuclear, renewables, energy storage, hydrogen and clean fuels, and carbon capture use and storage (CCUS). Discussions with advisors in academia and business, along with Government Chief Scientific Advisors and other senior representatives are shaping the next phase of this work. Ideas being explored include developing roadmaps and impact pathways for enabling green technologies, or an exploration insights piece on disruptive technologies such as reversing global heating using geoengineering and superconductivity energy transmission.

With the launch of IOP Publishing’s (IOPP) Sustainability Science and Technology international open access journal, and Green Economy (phase two), we are continuing to work with the physics community to advance the net zero energy transition.  

In 2020/21, the UK space industry income grew by 5% to £17.5bn, outpacing the growth of the global space industry, and contributing significantly to the role that physics-based businesses play in the UK economy, which generated £230bn in gross value added, the equivalent to 11% of UK gross domestic product in 2019.

In 2025 we plan to build on the strategic discussions that we’ve been having with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and deliver an impact project to shine a light on the hidden physics story of how space science and technology applications in established sectors shape our lives, and our economy. 

And through the IOP’s new Space Special Interest Group, we have the opportunity to mobilise the physics community to help shape and inform national strategies that will drive further economic growth.

The IOP set out the funding gap for physics deep tech and barriers that are currently holding back investment. 

IOP analysis shows that larger venture capital investments in physics deep tech are too scarce, which is holding back UK physics deep tech businesses from consistently scaling up. 

By recognising the unique needs of physics deep tech businesses in access to finance initiatives, these barriers can be removed. In doing so, the rates of investment could reach parity with other sciences and £4.5bn more funding could be made available to physics deep tech businesses over the next five years.

Join us in our efforts to get physics deep tech recognised as a subset of deep tech to address the barriers that are holding back investment. 

The IOP set out the central role that physics innovation and physicists have played in realising the green economy of today, and the equally key part they will need to play in scaling up a sustainable, internationally competitive green economy in the UK and Ireland for the future – in particular as a ‘systems challenge’ how the skills that physicists have, and their way of thinking, is important in solving such a problem.

Targeted support for physics R&D, and business innovation, as part of a long-term systems approach to leadership, coordination and delivery to unlock more of the contribution physics can make, is vital to realising a thriving green economy in the UK and Ireland.

The IOP and the physics community are a partner in this grand challenge. We will conduct further work on this topic in 2024.

The IOP shaped the debate on quantum, engaging with experts in business, academia, finance and intermediaries to set the ambition for growth of the UK quantum sector.  

This resulted in our ‘Vision for Quantum Technologies in the UK’ report that called for a long-term approach, with innovation roadmaps.  Recommendations from the report included scaling up the UK quantum research and innovation community across business, academia and finance; investment in skills; and support for international partnerships.  

The impact of this work can clearly be seen in the National Quantum Strategy, which sets out a ten-year ambition for the UK to lead the world in quantum technologies, delivering jobs and opportunities in advanced manufacturing and engineering across both hardware and software, as well as applications across the economy. The strategy is supported by a commitment to invest £2.5 billion in the sector, with the aim of attracting significant additional private investment on top of that. 

Another legacy from this impact project has been the formation of a new IOP quantum Business Innovation and Growth Group (qBIG) for IOP members involved in quantum commercial applications. Find out more about the qBIG group.

The IOP, in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering, engaged semiconductor experts in business, academia and intermediaries around the key issues of access to skills and electronic design tools.   

The resulting report summarised their views to inform government strategy development, suggesting a number of solutions to the issues raised by the community, including addressing visa issues; funding for equitable internship schemes; funding for an information campaign to raise awareness of the semiconductor industry; a coordinated approach to skills challenges across technology areas with common needs; taking decisive action to break down stereotypes about physics, science and apprenticeships; and a new ‘semiconductor institute’ to provide a range of essential functions to support the sector.  

Following the report, the UK Government published a public invitation to tender for a feasibility study into the need for a set of new semiconductor infrastructure capabilities within the UK, including a strategic coordination function to provide institutional leadership for the sector’s academic and innovation ecosystem.

The Henry Royce Institute (Royce) for advanced materials, in collaboration with the IOP, convened the academic and industrial materials research communities to explore the increasingly critical role of novel materials and processes to deliver affordable, reliable and above all, green energy. The output was a series of detailed technology roadmaps that set out how UK materials science can contribute to the UK’s low carbon energy transition. 

This project brought together business leaders from large, medium and small companies from  different sectors, as well as innovators in academia, to articulate how photonics ties together their sectors and how physics can support industrial growth. The result was a report that recommended further research and investment in photonics and emphasised the role that physics will play in maintaining the UK’s status as a global leader in light-based technologies.

This impact work was driven by IOP members in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Innovate UK, Food and Drink Federation, and the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN). It resulted in a report on the health of physics in food manufacturing, looking at the role of physics in enabling global competitiveness and productivity.  Report recommendations were discussed at the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee on 5 December 2017, and the output from the meeting included a letter to the BEIS Minister reinforcing the case to boost funding to research and innovation in food manufacturing.

Read IOP Food Physics Newsletter

This project, commissioned by the Science and Innovation Committee of the IOP, reviewed the health of UK academic astroparticle physics.  It reviewed, in an international context, the support for and progress of UK astroparticle physics over the past decade; assessed UK astroparticle physics in light of the scope of Research Councils UK (RCUK) and other funding sources; and recommended a broad strategy for UK astroparticle physics for the next 10 years.