Brian Cox comments ambiguously on impact

The Guardian’s live Q&A with Professor Brian Cox (media don) included a question on the dangers of commercialization over research for its own sake. His response is helpful, if perhaps giving too much credit to impact:

I am very concerned about the pressure we are putting on basic, curiosity driven science by the ever-increasing need to fill in boxes about the potential ‘impact’ of the research. This argument is of course that serendipity has often played a key role in the most transformative and useful discoveries – from penicillin to the transistor. There is a balance to be struck, however. Taxpayer funded researchers must always be aware that they don’t simply have a license to play around – its valuable to be asked to consider the potential impacts of your research; the problems arise when impact is over-weighted.