- Local areas can now bid for assist of up to £20 million every in authorities funding to develop present regional science and tech experience
- Investment will again local leaders who know their areas greatest, unlocking discoveries and creating a whole lot of jobs as a part of report £86 billion R&D settlement
- Builds on assist already earmarked to local leaders in ten UK areas via Local Innovation Partnerships Fund – driving regional progress via Plan for Change
Local leaders across the country can now bid for assist of up to £20 million every in a brand new competitors, as the authorities backs regional experience to ship cutting-edge analysis that might save lives and create jobs (Monday 6 October).
Research funding physique UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is inviting a broad vary of local and regional partnerships to bid for authorities funding to assist analysis and innovation tasks of their space via the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. The competitors will again partnerships that may flip present analysis breakthroughs into sensible options that create jobs and enhance folks’s lives, supporting the authorities’s Plan for Change.
The fund is designed to assist areas across the UK construct on their present strengths – whether or not that’s creating know-how that helps medical doctors diagnose ailments sooner, creating cleaner transport options, or discovering improvements that spawn totally new industries.
Local leaders, working alongside universities and companies, are greatest positioned to determine these regional alternatives and flip analysis breakthroughs into real-world options that profit their communities.
Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall mentioned:
This fund is our Plan for Change in motion. It empowers local leaders, researchers, and companies with pores and skin in the sport to ship transformational analysis that creates jobs and improves lives of their space.
Ten areas have already got our assist and might be in a position to ship game-changing improvements to profit their communities.
Now we’re extending this chance to the remainder of the country, and I encourage partnerships in all places to come ahead, and present how they’ll unlock their local experience to create tomorrow’s improvements.
Consortiums of varied types are inspired to apply, to guarantee areas across the size and breadth of the UK are supported to develop new improvements and drive regional progress.
Ten regions across the UK have already obtained backing via the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. These embrace established innovation hubs in England corresponding to Greater Manchester, West Midlands, and West Yorkshire, alongside Glasgow City Region in Scotland, Cardiff Capital Region in Wales, and an innovation hall linking Belfast and Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Each of those areas has been earmarked for at the very least £30 million to spend money on their regional innovation strengths, from superior manufacturing and life sciences to digital applied sciences and clear vitality, guaranteeing each nation of the UK advantages from this main authorities funding in R&D.
This strategy builds on the profitable Innovation Accelerators programme, which has already introduced in additional than £140 million of personal funding and created a whole lot of jobs. Greater Manchester groups are serving to detect coronary heart and lung ailments extra shortly and cheaply, whereas Glasgow researchers are working to spot indicators of colon most cancers earlier to save lives. This exhibits how researchers, companies and local leaders can work collectively to deal with the country’s largest challenges whereas boosting local economies.
This funding types a part of the report £86 billion R&D settlement till 2030 and represents a key pillar of the authorities’s modern Industrial Strategy, supporting high-growth sectors in each area. For areas prepared to unlock their innovation potential, this competitors provides a transformative alternative to safe the partnerships and funding wanted to drive progress and enhance lives across the country.
Notes to editors
UKRI will run a 2-stage choice course of to determine the most promising partnerships.
Interested areas can submit expressions of interest and find out more about the eligibility criteria. UKRI will then work with shortlisted partnerships to co-develop detailed proposals that exhibit how they’ll flip analysis into real-world options. An unbiased evaluation panel will consider functions primarily based on their potential for financial influence, power of local partnerships, and alignment with nationwide priorities.