‘Blue-skies’ agency will be backed as part of science funding boost
A new research facility championed by Dominic Cummings will receive at least £800 million from the UK government as part of a major investment in science announced by the Chancellor.
Rishi Sunak said the cash would go towards a “blueskies funding agency” modelled on the Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa) in the US which is credited with being the foundation of Silicon Valley.
The budget announcement said the agency “will fund high-risk, high-reward science”. The spend is part of a boost to science funding which will see investment in research and development rise to £22 billion per year by 2024-25. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s aide Cummings has long been a supporter of the research agency scheme, pushing for it in a number of blog posts.
Sunak also said that over the next ten years more than £1bn would go to the animal health science facility at Weybridge in Surrey where work is currently under way to analyse samples of coronavirus.
The Chancellor said that to “secure our leadership in the technologies of the future”, he was investing more than £900m in nuclear fusion, space and electric vehicles”.
The increase in science funding would support
“world-leading research in all regions and nations”. It includes £400m in 2020-21 to be invested in research institutes and universities across the UK, particularly in basic research and physical sciences. The government will also provide £300m for experimental mathematical research to “attract the very best global talent over the next five years”.
The Chancellor also announced he was increasing the tax breaks for research and development (R&D) expenditure by businesses.
Rachel Moore, innovation incentives lead at PWC, said the increase in the R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC) from 12 per cent to 13 per cent continues to make the UK “one of the more attractive regimes globally”.
“This is a clear sign that the UK government is actively supporting investment in innovation by UK business and is serious in its ambition to increase UK investment in R&D to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. The rate increase also suggests it will be here for the long term, enabling qualifying companies to plan their future cashflow,” she added.
Scott Henderson, chief executive of Edinburghbased tax incentive specialist ABGI UK, also welcomed the announcement of measures which he said would incentivise innovation.
“In a Budget which made it clear that the UK’S success
in the global economy will be rooted in innovation and cutting-edge technology, the Chancellor’s plans to significantly increase public R&D investment are most welcome.”
Henderson said measures including the increase to R&D tax breaks mean the Chancellor has now put “solid support in place” for the private sector to invest to help the UK government achieve its ambitions on increasing spending.