Mathematical sciences research: leading the way to UK economic growth

Working in partnership with the Council for the Mathematical Sciences (CMS), EPSRC commissioned an independent study which has shown that 10 per cent of jobs and 16 per cent of Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy stems from mathematical sciences research.

The report by consulting firm Deloitte (PDF 989KB: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Publications/reports/DeloitteMeasuringTheEconomicsBenefitsOfMathematicalScienceResearchUKNov2012.pdf), is the first study of its kind to quantify the economic value of mathematics research in terms of the employment it supports and gross added value of mathematics to the UK economy.

The report notes the excellence of the UK mathematics research base and estimates the contribution of maths to the UK economy in 2010 to be 2.8 million in employment terms (around 10 per cent of all jobs in the UK) and £208 billion in terms of GVA (around 16 per cent of total UK GVA). It also illustrates the contribution that mathematics makes to the development of a skilled workforce, the production of high-end, high-value products and the development of quality processes.

The generation and application of maths is seen to help drive economic growth and develop greater prosperity with impact across sectors such as banking and finance, computer services, pharmaceutical, construction and public administration and defence.

The emergence of truly massive datasets across most fields of science and engineering, and in business, government and national security, increases the need for new tools from the mathematical sciences and will ensure that this area of research remains critical for the growth of the UK economy.

The full report “Mathematical sciences research: leading the way to UK economic growth” (PDF 2MB) is available on the EPSRC website and highlights from the study are also available to download.
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PDF: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Publications/reports/EPSRCMathematicalSciencesResearch.pdf