Going for growth: what does government want and can the sector deliver?
Date: November 12, 2025
Time: 10:30 – 11:30
Location: Main stage
Universities drive economic growth through graduate skills, research and innovation, and commercialisation and knowledge exchange. Some are getting creative in deploying their assets, whether tangible or intangible, for wider benefit. But generally speaking higher education is incentivised to produce high quality knowledge outputs, not drive growth. Certainly it is often difficult for higher education to share in the proceeds of growth. Our panel will discuss whether higher education institutions could go further and faster in contributing to growth and what interventions would be needed to make that happen.
Chair
Alex Favier
Global campaign director
Invest in UK University R&D - Midlands
Speakers
Anna Valero
Director of the Growth Programme and a Distinguished Policy Fellow
Centre for Economic Performance, LSE
Greg Clark
Executive chair
Warwick Innovation District
Helen Turner
Director
Midlands Innovation