Robotics, 5G tech, smart energy, and artificial intelligence will—as promised late last year by the UK’s prime minister Theresa May—be showered in R&D cash from a multi-billion pound taxpayer-funded pot.
The PM said in November that £2 billion per year would be set aside for research and development up to 2020—the end of the current parliament’s term. Number 10 said: “This fund is part of £4.7 billion of additional R&D funding announced by the prime minister in November, a bigger increase than in any parliament since 1979.”
May’s government hopes to emulate the setup that already exists for Britain’s automotive and aerospace industries, which are backed up by research institutions and have little regulatory interference from Whitehall.
On Monday, May will say during her first regional Cabinet meeting as PM, that the Tories’ so-called Modern Industrial Strategy “will be underpinned by a new approach to government, not just stepping back but stepping up to a new, active role that backs business and ensures more people in all corners of the country share in the benefits of its success.”
There are 10 key areas that the government wants to address, which includes a pledge of £170 million to apparently improve technical education (science, technology, engineering, and maths, aka, STEM) in the country. The government plans to additionally pump £556 million into what it likes to describe as the “Northern Powerhouse”—to “create jobs, support businesses, and encourage growth.”
