The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will announce £86 billion of spending for research and development (R&D) in technology and sciences in tomorrow's spending review. The package includes £500 million for UK regions to develop 'innovation clusters' across the country.
Dedicated awards of up to £30 million for technological R&D will be provided to each of the Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England and equivalent regions in the devolved nations. The fund will also include a UK-wide competition to support innovation clusters, working in conjunction with UKRI.
This fund has the potential to deliver major economic gains as government figures show that for every £1 invested in UK R&D up to £7 of benefits to the UK economy are delivered. Businesses which receive R&D funding see jobs and turnover grow by 20% each and the amount of long term private investment which is leveraged doubles.
Promoting cross-sector innovation
The package will target accelerated drug discovery in Liverpool, the development of cutting-edge defence equipment in Northern Ireland and the design of vital semiconductors for phones and electric cars in South Wales.
Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, said: "R&D is the very foundation of the breakthroughs that make our lives easier and healthier – from new medicines enabling us to live longer, more fulfilled lives to developments in AI giving us time back, from easing our train journeys through to creating the technology we need to protect our planet from climate change."
Driving regional development
Local leaders will be empowered to develop innovation clusters through the Innovation Partnerships Fund, which makes up part of the package. Those with local knowledge will be provided with the resources to target R&D investment, boosting high skilled jobs in the regions.
The funding builds on the work of the Innovation Accelerator pilot scheme which invested £100 million in 26 R&D projects from 2022-2025 to accelerate the growth of three innovation clusters. This innovative new funding approach involved pre-selected projects being provided with government funding. This funding was partly used to attract private sector co-investment to help achieve digital transformation.
Kyle emphasised: "incredible and ambitious research goes on in every corner of our country, from Liverpool to Inverness, Swansea to Belfast, which is why empowering regions to harness local expertise and skills for all of our benefit is at the heart of this new funding – helping to deliver the economic growth at the centre of our Plan for Change."
Forging new local partnerships
Alongside this package, £4.8 million is being invested in a three year regional project to create an innovation partnership between Cambridge and Manchester. Led by the city's universities and Research England, on behalf of UKRI, the programme will connect the two areas digital development.
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: "this is exactly how we turn our potential into progress. This investment backs regions to lead the way in the industries that will define the future."
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness added: "we will now be able to support more research and development projects in established sectors, like the car industry and green energy, which are cornerstones of the North East economy, and we can also invest in new technologies from kitchen table innovations to our fast-emerging trailblazers in the space industry and AI."
Lucy Baldwin
