Imperial launches Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance

Imperial is launching a new research centre to find ways to make the UK economy more productive and competitive. The Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance is funded by nearly £29million over a 10-year period in philanthropic support from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, founded by Lord Sainsbury. It will bring together the UK's top engineers, scientists and economists with the UK's scienceand technology-based industries to co-design globally competitive strategies. The UK is faced with a dramatic slowdown in its rate of economic growth which is largely due to the declining rate of innovation and competitiveness of key sectors of the economy, a problem that is common across G7 countries. "The Centre will harness Imperial's strengths in understanding emerging technologies and their potential implications for business, society, and government." Lord Sainsbury Founder of Gatsby Charitable Foundation - Many countries are responding with a more active industrial policy to help drive economic growth. Notably, the US Administration's CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act are designed to bolster US competitiveness in key sectors such as semiconductors and renewable energy. The Centre - a joint initiative between Imperial's Faculty of Engineering and the Imperial College Business School and supported by the Imperial Policy Forum - will focus on the UK's existing and emerging high-value industries across engineering, life sciences, and data science.