Government commits £1 billion-plus to Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund investments
The Conservative Government has committed to increasing investment in R&D by £4.7 billion over the next four years. The extra £2 billion per year by 2020 to 2021 represents the biggest increase in total Government R&D investment since records began back in 1979.
The Government is investing over £1 billion in cutting-edge technologies to create jobs and raise living standards, Business Secretary Greg Clark has announced. The funding from the flagship Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) will be spent across six key areas over the next four years, driving progress and innovation that will create opportunities for businesses and specific sectors across the UK.
The Government has worked with businesses and academics to identify core industrial challenges where research and innovation can help unlock markets and ‘industries of the future’ in which the UK can become world-leading.
Through the ISCF, Government will bring together the UK’s research capabilities with the ambitions of business to meet these challenges head-on. The funding allocations just announced are designed to help deliver a step-change in the UK’s ability to turn strengths in research into commercialised products.