The Freeman Centre

Sussex is home to the UK’s number one science and technology think tank, according to a major new report.

SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research is ranked sixth in the world, and is the highest-ranked of all UK think tanks, in the science and technology category of the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go-To Think Tank project.

The project, now in its fifth year, is, according to its authors, “the most authoritative list of high performance think tanks in the world”.

Professor Gordon MacKerron, Director of SPRU, says: “We’re delighted to have this recognition as the top science and technology think tank in the UK and as one of the highest ranked in the world.”

The report’s publication is the culmination of an eight-month process involving the support of think tanks and hundreds of experts from every region of the world. It is based on a comprehensive ranking of 6,545 policy institutes from 182 countries, done through a worldwide survey of 1,500 scholars, journalists, policy makers and peers from 120 countries.

The report was launched on 18 January at the National Press Club in Washington DC, and on 26 January at the African Union Summit and the World Economic Forum in Europe.

At SPRU, part of Sussex’s School of Business, Management and Economics, research and high-level policy advice are combined with postgraduate teaching in science, technology, and innovation policy and management.

The report also places the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), which is based on Sussex’s campus, 41^st in its list of the top 50 non-US think tanks in the world.