UK Research & Innovation unveils plans for future funding
UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) has outlined its corporate plan to show how the world-class research and innovation UKRI supports will drive economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits for all.
The plan sets out how UKRI will spend its annual £7.9 billion budget and support the UK Government’s ambitions for the UK to be: a global leader in research and innovation and the best place in the world to innovate and invest in or grow a business.
Publishing the corporate plan is said to be ‘a significant milestone for the organisation’ and builds on UKRI’s five-year strategy, Transforming Tomorrow Together, providing more detail on how UKRI will deliver its ambition for UK research and innovation set out through six strategic objectives.
It will be followed by publication of strategic delivery plans for UKRI’s nine councils.
Through this full suite of documents UKRI will set its path for the forthcoming years, delivering on the promises of the Spending Review settlement.
UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Research and innovation is crucial to the UK’s future; it will drive prosperity in every part of the country and deliver benefits for all.
“UKRI’s corporate plan outlines how we will support the UK’s world-leading researchers and innovators to thrive, strengthening our position as a science superpower and the best place in the world to innovate.”
UKRI chief executive Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser added: “Our corporate plan sets out the key actions UKRI will take over the course of our three-year budget settlement to foster an outstanding research and innovation system for the UK.
“This collective programme of work across UKRI is guided by our ambitious strategy, which outlines our strategic objectives and four principles for change: diversity, connectivity, resilience and engagement.
“We are committed to ensuring that UKRI realises its full potential, working with our many partners to convene, catalyse and invest in the UK’s world-class research and innovation endeavour, enriching lives locally, nationally and globally.”
Commitments in the plan include: increased investment in technologies of the future, including building on investments in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and engineering biology, a £2 billion talent programme, increasing research and innovation infrastructure investment to £1.1 billion a year by 2024 to 2025, ‘supercharging’ innovation, including through Innovate UK with a budget increase to more than £1 billion by 2024 to 2025, and piloting Innovation Accelerators in Greater Manchester, West Midlands and Glasgow City Region.
There is also an extra £185 million across UKRI to target global and national challenges, including the move to net zero through a new ‘Building a Green Future’ programme, a pilot £65 million investment in new and emerging areas that reach beyond disciplinary boundaries as well as plans to make UKRI a ‘more open and agile organisation’.
