The first annual report of the Government Chief Scientific Adviser 2014 Innovation: managing risk, not avoiding it – takes an in depth look at approaches to risk in the context of innovation, with extreme weather events a key focus.

The two-part report by GCSA Sir Mark Walport is aimed at policy-makers, legislators and a wide range of business people, professionals, researchers and other individuals whose interests relate to the link between risk and innovation.

The report says that the task of designing systems of regulation and practice that are based on rigorous evidence and informed public debate is difficult and that in some areas, regulatory systems have become sclerotic and stifle growth. In others, ambiguity about ‘who is accountable for what’ acts as an inhibitor. Debates about risk are often highly technical while, at the same time, being at least as much about values and choices, about who benefits and who pays.

It also highlights the fact that social, political and geographical contexts matter hugely - especially true when seeking to establish frameworks across national boundaries.

The report has brought together perspectives from a wide range of disciplines – including a section by Lord Nicholas Stern, author of the government-commissioned review on climate change.

The aim of the report is to focus on the ways in which risk can be governed most effectively in order to help policymakers and citizens to make better-informed choices about innovation.

The report also seeks to stimulate debate about how the principles it outlines should be applied to decisions taken at local, national, European and global scales

The report says that Chief Scientific Advisers to the UK government “learn quickly that a key and largely unsung role of the government is the difficult job of managing the risks facing the UK population” and that the performance and resilience of UK infrastructure is at the root of many of these risks. However, while the United Kingdom has a well-developed public facing National Risk Register, based on a classified National Risk Assessment, it says:

“one of the hardest decisions for the government is to find the right balance of both effort and expenditure in preventing and mitigating the consequences of individual risks and, in the event that they transpire, managing and clearing up the consequences.”

The report draws attention to the risks the UK now faces from extreme weather, commenting:

“…sometimes we fail to recognize that the extremes of the physical and biological systems that shape the environment will ultimately beat all but the most resistant human infrastructure, whether those are extremes of rain, wind, geological forces or infectious diseases.”

“When more thanone metre of rain fell on South West England at the end of 2013 and start of 2014, it was inevitable that flooding would be the consequence, particularly in flood plains such as the Somerset Levels.”

With the threat of extreme rainfall is rising as the climate of the planet changes, the report states:

“… tough decisions will have to be made about how much to spend on things such as flood defences. And when rivers meet the sea and tides, the difficulties and costs of defending against extreme weather become extraordinarily challenging and costly.”

The report concludes that innovation is essential if the UK is  to “effectively and cost-effectively to futureproof our national infrastructure to provide the most affordable security and resilience to UK citizens.”

Click here to download Managing Risk, not avoiding it

Click here to download the main body of the Report Managing Risk, not avoiding it - evidence and case studies