The University of Manchester - Science and technology in the service of the State: Understanding
mission-oriented research systems in a changing world
Government mission-oriented science and technology systems are facing unprecedented challenges
from changes in public policy missions, shifts in the global production of scientific knowledge and
technology as well as austerity. This project aims to understand how Government mission-oriented
science and technology systems are coping with such challenges.
Government funded science and technology, performed in direct support of the goals or missions of
the State has a long history and accounts for a significant proportion of public spending on S&T. Each
mission area (e.g. in defence, health or agricultural policy) has its own distinctive system of actors
and organizations. This ‘mission-oriented’ S&T has tended to be overlooked by academic analysts
(except for the largest and most high-profile mission-oriented programmes and agencies), yet
mission-oriented S&T systems are not only vital to good public policy but are also important
elements of the broader research and innovation system.
Today, mission-oriented S&T systems are facing profound challenges stemming from changes in
public policy missions (including the emergence of major new global challenges), from shifts in the
way scientific knowledge is produced and the global distribution of scientific expertise, and from
financial and political pressures on the organization of government activities.
This new project aims to explore how these mission-oriented S&T systems work and how they are
changing in response to these challenges. In doing so, we hope not only to improve academic
understandings of mission-oriented science and technology policy but also to raise the level of policy
debates about possible future developments.
The core of the project is a cross-case comparison of selected mission-oriented science and
technology systems focused on two UK central government departments (MOD and DEFRA). We will
use these cases to:
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Characterize different kinds of mission-oriented S&T systems and their distinguishing features
Understand in detail selected mission-oriented S&T systems in the UK and their evolution in
recent years
Examine how actors in, and stakeholders of, those systems perceive the challenges and
opportunities facing them, identifying challenges that may be common to all mission-oriented
systems and challenges that are unique to specific systems
Assess how the selected mission-oriented S&T systems are responding to the challenges
identified
Identify opportunities for and threats to mission-oriented S&T systems, including any specific
implications for defence and security-related mission-oriented research systems.
This 18 month project is jointly funded by ESRC-AHRC-DSTL under the Science & Security
programme. The team from the University of Manchester’s Institute for Innovation Research
comprises: Andrew James (Principal Investigator), Jakob Edler, Kieron Flanagan, John Rigby (coInvestigators), Duncan Thomas and Jillian Yeow.