Innovation: Managing risk, not avoiding it

Sir Mark WalportChief Scientific Adviser to HM Government

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• Wellbeing, health, security & resilience

• Knowledge translated to economic advantage

• The right science for emergencies

• Underpinning policy with evidence

• Advocacy and leadership for science

Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser

Credit: iStockphoto

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GCSA Themed Annual Report

•Topic of report all pervasive in work as GCSA.

•Growth driven by science and innovation.

•Innovation to deal with global challenges (ageing populations, scarce resources, infectious diseases, carbon emissions).

•Innovation held back by poorly framed discussions about risk

•If governance of risk goes wrong, miss out on major potential benefits, or suffer needlessly.

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Where does risk come in?

Natural Events

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Credit: Arran Moffat/CC BY 2.0

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Where does risk come in?

Human

Credit: @Boston_to_a_T/Twitter

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• Risk?

• Hazard

• Exposure

• Vulnerability

• Uncertainty

• Threat

Using common principles about language to raise the level of conversations

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We live in an Information Age•Technological change•Innovative generation•Changing demographics•Interconnectedness

The innovative world we live in today

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A growing global population requires innovation

The challenges we face include:

•Climate change

•Water security

•Food and agriculture

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Holding a Wider Conversation about Risk

• Values and lenses

• Who pays?• My pain, your gain• Science meets

values• Unanticipated

Consequences• New Challenges

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Regulatory Challenges

• Economic regulation – A systems approach

• Asymmetric incentives

• Encrusted regulation

• Regulation when science meets values

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What can science contribute?

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Conclusions

1. National priorities for resilience aligned with evidence and risk-based approach

2. Coherent and structured approach to assessing impact of risk in policy, regulation and crisis management

3. Regulators and regulated industries – Right governance structures and incentives

4. Science-based EU – Policy rooted in robust scientific evidence

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. We apologise for any errors or omissions in the included attributions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future versions of this slide set. We can be contacted through go-science@bis.gsi.gov.uk.

@uksciencechief

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