British scientists could be invited to compete for cash prizes to discover new technologies as a cost-effective way to support research in an era of lower public spending, Reuters quoted Science Minister David Willets as saying today. Willetts is responsible for around 5 billion pounds of annual research and development funding but faces a sharp reduction in a government spending review in October unless he can persuade treasury officials to look elsewhere for savings. The new coalition government is seeking cuts of around 25 percent in the budgets of all departments apart from health and international development to reduce a 156 billion pound budget deficit. Willetts said he believed money spent on research made economic sense, but it had to be used as effectively as possible in straightened times. "The challenge we face is to make the best use of our science base. Especially in a time of austerity we inevitably think of the way it can contribute to economic growth," he told an audience of scientists in London. "An ... option worth exploring is public competitions for new technologies," Willetts said at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. "These prizes, if designed right, can be effective drivers of innovation." Willetts said there were well-established precedents, including 18th century improvements to chronometers inspired by 100,000 pounds of state money awarded under the 1714 Longitude Act. He also cited the success of the Schneider Trophy for seaplane development in the 1920s where teams sometimes received government money and as well as pilots on loan from the Royal Air Force. He said the competition had led to advances in aerodynamics and engines exploited by the designers of the Spitfire jet, famous for boosting British airpower in World War Two and halting a German invasion. "It need not be government which sets the prize or challenge. It can happen in marketplaces on the web too," he added, referring to a website run by U.S. firm InnoCentive. The Massachusetts-based company runs an online market in which companies set out problems for its network of 200,000 registered experts to solve for a fee. Imran Khan, of science lobby group CASE, said the government should first study whether offering prize money was an effective way to spend public research money. "The key thing is that any new approach is evidence-based," Khan said. "The government might for example want to put up a 2 million pound prize for a new technology but we need to make sure that 2 million pounds would not be better spent simply paying scientists to do the research."
