United Kingdom

=== Science and technology ===
{{Main|Science and technology in the United Kingdom|Telecommunications in the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Cambridge Science Park Napp.jpg|thumb|[[Silicon Fen|Cambridge]] is the most intensive research cluster for science and technology in the world.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=WIPO |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2022/index.html |title=Global Innovation Index 2022, 15th Edition |publisher=World Intellectual Property Organization |year=2022 |isbn=978-92-805-3432-0 |language=en |doi=10.34667/tind.46596 |access-date=16 November 2022 |archive-date=3 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203061259/https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2022/index.html |url-status=live }}; {{Cite web |title=Global Innovation Index 2021 |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2021 |access-date=5 March 2022 |website=[[World Intellectual Property Organization]] |publisher=[[United Nations]] |language=en |archive-date=5 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305010458/https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2021/ |url-status=live }}; {{Cite web |title=Release of the Global Innovation Index 2020: Who Will Finance Innovation? |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2020/index.html |access-date=2 September 2021 |website=World Intellectual Property Organization |language=en |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603121259/https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2020/index.html |url-status=live }}; {{Cite web |title=Global Innovation Index 2019 |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2019/index.html |access-date=2 September 2021 |website=World Intellectual Property Organization |language=en |archive-date=2 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902101818/https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2019/index.html |url-status=live }}; {{Cite web |title=RTD – Item |url=https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/rtd/items/691898 |access-date=2 September 2021 |website=ec.europa.eu |archive-date=2 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902140715/https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/rtd/items/691898 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
England and Scotland were leading centres of the [[Scientific Revolution]] from the 17th century.<ref>Gascoin, J. "A reappraisal of the role of the universities in the Scientific Revolution", in Lindberg, David C. and Westman, Robert S., eds (1990), ''Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution''. Cambridge University Press. p. 248. {{ISBN|978-0-521-34804-1}}.</ref> The United Kingdom led the [[Industrial Revolution]] from the 18th century, and has continued to produce scientists and engineers credited with important advances.<ref>Reynolds, E.E.; Brasher, N.H. (1966). ''Britain in the Twentieth Century, 1900–1964''. Cambridge University Press. p. 336. {{OCLC|474197910}}</ref> Major theorists from the 17th and 18th centuries include [[Isaac Newton]], whose [[Newton's laws of motion|laws of motion]] and illumination of [[gravitation|gravity]] have been seen as a keystone of modern science;<ref>Burtt, E.A. (2003) 1924.[https://books.google.com/books?id=G9WBMa1Rz_kC&pg=PA207 ''The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164803/https://books.google.com/books?id=G9WBMa1Rz_kC&pg=PA207 |date=26 March 2023 }}. Mineola, NY: Courier Dover. p. 207. {{ISBN|978-0-486-42551-1}}.</ref> from the 19th century [[Charles Darwin]], whose theory of [[evolution]] by [[natural selection]] was fundamental to the development of modern biology, and [[James Clerk Maxwell]], who formulated classical [[electromagnetic theory]]; and more recently [[Stephen Hawking]], who advanced major theories in the fields of [[cosmology]], [[quantum gravity]] and the investigation of [[black holes]].<ref>Hatt, C. (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=BVBvehqrAPQC ''Scientists and Their Discoveries''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164803/https://books.google.com/books?id=BVBvehqrAPQC |date=26 March 2023 }}. London: Evans Brothers. pp. 16, 30 and 46. {{ISBN|978-0-237-53195-9}}.</ref>

The [[Department for Science, Innovation and Technology]] (DSIT) is responsible for helping to encourage, develop and manage the UK's scientific, research, and technological outputs. Scientific research and development remains important in [[Universities in the United Kingdom|British universities]], with many establishing [[science park]]s to facilitate production and co-operation with industry.<ref>Castells, M.; Hall, P.; Hall, P.G. (2004). ''Technopoles of the World: the Making of Twenty-First-Century Industrial Complexes''. London: Routledge. pp. 98–100. {{ISBN|978-0-415-10015-1}}.</ref> In 2022 the UK retained its number one spot for technology in Europe reaching a combined market value of $1&nbsp;trillion. Cambridge was named the number one university in the world for producing successful technology founders.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 July 2021 |title=London Has Officially Become the Technology Capital of Europe |url=https://brainstation.io/magazine/london-technology-capital-of-europe-100-unicorns |access-date=10 July 2023 |website=BrainStation |language=en-US |archive-date=7 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007093133/https://brainstation.io/magazine/london-technology-capital-of-europe-100-unicorns |url-status=live }}</ref>

For four consecutive years, from 2020 to 2023, the UK maintained its fourth-place ranking in the [[Global Innovation Index]], a position determined by approximately 80 indicators encompassing the political environment, education, infrastructure, and knowledge creation, among others.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=WIPO |title=Global Innovation Index 2023, 15th Edition |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2023/index.html |access-date=17 October 2023 |website=www.wipo.int |doi=10.34667/tind.46596 |language=en |archive-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022042128/https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2023/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="auto"/> During 2022, the UK produced 6.3 per cent of the world's scientific research papers and had a 10.5 per cent share of scientific citations, the third highest in the world (for both). The UK ranked 1st in the world for Field-Weighted Citation Impact.<ref>{{Cite web |title=International comparison of the UK research base, 2022 |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1078073/international-comparison-uk-research-base-2022-accompanying-note.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305235208/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1078073/international-comparison-uk-research-base-2022-accompanying-note.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2023 |access-date=11 March 2023}} (last checked 11 March 2023)</ref> Scientific journals produced in the UK include publications by the ''[[Royal Society]]'', ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', the ''[[BMJ|British Medical Journal]]'' and ''[[The Lancet]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCook, Alison |year=2006 |title=Is peer review broken? |url=http://gaia.pge.utexas.edu/Good/Materials/scientist_02_28_2006.htm |journal=The Scientist |volume=20 |issue=2 |page=26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816230933/http://gaia.pge.utexas.edu/Good/Materials/scientist_02_28_2006.htm |archive-date=16 August 2011 |access-date=22 June 2011}}</ref>