Richard Jones is Vice-President for Regional Innovation and Civic Engagement at the University of Manchester. He is an experimental physicist, who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006 for his work studying polymers at surfaces and interfaces, much of which is carried out in collaboration with industry.
He has written extensively about the role of science and innovation policy in supporting productivity growth and addressing regional economic disparities. His report “The Missing Four Billion: making research and development work for the whole UK” (with Tom Forth, NESTA 2020), made the case for the devolution of more R&D funding to cities and regions to support local economic and social priorities, including addressing health inequalities and supporting the transition to net zero.
In Greater Manchester, he is the Independent Science Advisor to Innovation GM, which brings together business, the GM Combined Authority and GM’s universities. Its goal is to develop Greater Manchester’s innovation ecosystem, to help level up communities, generate the solutions needed to achieve net zero, and create the conditions for more businesses in more places to benefit from global exporting and inward investment.
Richard is supporting the Atom Valley public-private partnership to capitalise on its proximity to an outstanding University research base, an evidence-based local industrial strategy, translational research centres such as the University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and a strong start-up/spin-out eco-system.