In this follow-up to my earlier piece on the UK economy, I explore why the UK gets so little ‘bang’ for its considerable R&D ‘buck’. Despite ranking among the top global spenders, we lag in innovation performance. I argue that structural complexity, a bias towards theoretical research, and poor alignment between academia and business are holding us back, and unless we address these root causes, tweaks and funding adjustments won’t get us into the global top tier.