UK Announces £1bn for Regional R&D Clusters in Innovation Funding Push
The Prime Minister announced a new regional research and development settlement on 9 October: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will invest £1 billion over four years to support high-growth innovation clusters across the country. For the first time, local leaders will receive dedicated R&D funding to direct according to their areas' industrial strengths.
Also announced was £33 million for a dementia initiative named after Dame Barbara Windsor, with the creation of the BARBARA alliance to drive the research. Partners include the pharmaceutical companies Bristol Myers Squibb and GSK, and Gates Ventures.
The package was unveiled at the 'Innovation Nation' summit convened by former prime minister Gordon Brown. Ian Chapman, chief executive of UKRI, welcomed the plan, saying locally led R&D investment would help turn research excellence into regional growth and jobs.
Successive UK governments have sought to rebalance research funding away from London and the Oxford–Cambridge–London 'golden triangle'. UKRI is expected to publish the allocation method and the first beneficiary clusters in due course.
(Source: UKPulse summary of the official)
Source: UKPulse summary of the official
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 一名科研人员在实验室工作，Stanford ENERGY 摄，CC BY 2.5（Wikimedia Commons）
