Gatsby Charitable Foundation renews support for Policy Links with five-year grant

The award of over £2.3 million will underpin the core activities of the Unit, helping to further enhance its impact on industrial innovation policy in the UK and internationally.

The Policy Links Unit has been awarded more than £2.3 million in funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation over the next five years, continuing support from the Foundation that has enabled Policy Links to establish a global reputation for expertise in industrial innovation policy.

The award will underpin new and expanded Policy Links activities, helping the Unit to grow its portfolio of clients in the UK and internationally, continue to nurture strategic collaborations within UK government departments and agencies, and establish new global partnerships to better inform the Unit’s international benchmarking work.

This grant will also support the annual publication of the unique UK Innovation Report, which brings together innovation and value-added indicators in a concise and accessible format.

The funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation will further enable Policy Links to expand its knowledge dissemination activities and to increase collaboration with the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (CSTI) and the Babbage Network under the banner of Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy (CIIP).

Lord Sainsbury, settlor of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, said: ‘The performance of Policy Links has exceeded the hopes that I had for it when it was set up, and now plays an important role in policy debates about innovation in the UK. In the future I expect it to build up its knowledge base even more, and play an even more valuable role.’

Dr Carlos López-Gómez, head of Policy Links, said: ‘The Gatsby Charitable Foundation has been one of our strongest supporters since the beginning, helping us to establish the Unit in 2016 with an initial grant. With their further support, we have been able to increase our delivery capacity and establish a strong series of partnerships in the UK and around the world, and I’m thrilled that they are taking this next step with us as we look to grow further.’