Prime Minister to hand regions innovation funding to build world-leading industries
Local leaders will be handed dedicated research and development (R&D) funding for the first time under plans unveiled by the Prime Minister today to spread opportunity, investment, and growth to every part of the country.
- Prime Minister transfers some research and development funding from Westminster, giving regions greater freedom to back ideas and drive growth
- £1 billion invested over the next four years in industrial clusters to help high-potential regions build world-leading industries
- No.10 North to forge new partnerships between innovation clusters across the UK, beginning with the Northern and Oxford to Cambridge growth corridors
- Comes as the Prime Minister delivers his Innovation Nation speech, setting out his plan to make Britain the best place in the world to innovate, build and grow
Local leaders will be handed dedicated research and development (R&D) funding for the first time under plans unveiled by the Prime Minister today to spread opportunity, investment, and growth to every part of the country.
In a major speech at the Innovation Nation Summit in Manchester, the Prime Minister set out his vision to make Britain the best place in the world to innovate, build and grow by backing the people, places and industries that can define the country’s future.
Drawing on Britain’s state-of-the-art strengths in science, technology, and research, he argued that the next generation of breakthroughs should not only be discovered here, but developed, scaled, and commercialised here too.
Speaking at the Innovation Nation Conference Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:
We’ve got the finest minds working at the most prestigious universities, the most innovative companies and clusters producing some of the most advanced technologies.
We are doing so much right, but we can do so much more. We have good opportunities now in all of our nations and regions to deliver something that I’ve set as a mission as Prime Minister, good growth in every postcode.
Let’s really focus on that and bring innovation to all parts of the UK as well. We can grow our companies into global giants. We can extend the chain of human achievement. We can be the world’s innovation nation.
As part of the mission, established mayoral strategic authorities in England will for the first time receive dedicated devolved later-stage innovation funding, giving them the power to back the most promising innovation opportunities in their areas and build on local strengths.
This is a first step. As set out in the Rewiring the State Cabinet Statement we will devolve a substantially increased share of later-stage innovation funding to local leaders so they can back opportunities with the greatest potential for local growth. This will include areas beyond existing Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities.
This dedicated R&D funding will be complemented and sit alongside new Good Growth Funds which are a single, flexible, long-term growth budget, empowering local leaders to invest in the opportunities that will create jobs, attract investment, and raise living standards in their area.
The reforms mark a shift away from a system where too many decisions about regional innovation are taken at a national level, and towards one that gives places greater control over their economic future. By giving local leaders, the funding, flexibility, and support to build on their competitive strengths, the Government aims to unlock new investment, grow businesses and create better-paid jobs across the country.
The Government will also commit £1 billion through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) over the next four years to support high-growth innovation clusters in the Industrial Strategy’s priority sectors across the UK, backing the places with the research excellence, businesses and skilled workers needed to turn new ideas into successful companies.
The speech forms part of the Prime Minister’s wider plan to ensure Britain captures more of the economic rewards from its world-class research and entrepreneurial talent. Alongside investment in regional innovation clusters, the Prime Minister set out measures to tackle barriers to growth, as well as national mission to defeat dementia.
No.10 North will also be tasked with bringing forward new partnerships between clusters in the Industrial Strategy’s eight growth-driving sectors, building on the success of the Cambridge and Manchester collaboration.
The first will connect the complementary strengths of the Northern Growth Corridor and the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor in sectors including life sciences, digital and technology, and advanced manufacturing.
By connecting leading universities, innovative businesses, and local leaders across different parts of the country, the partnerships will help promising ideas move more quickly from research into commercial products, growing companies and skilled jobs.
They will also allow different places to combine their strengths and compete at the scale needed to attract international investment and lead in fast-growing global industries.
The reforms recognise that successful innovation depends on more than research funding alone. Businesses also need skilled workers, affordable space, modern infrastructure, access to finance and strong links with universities and public institutions. Putting more decisions in local hands will allow those different elements to be brought together around a clear plan for each area.
The package forms part of the Prime Minister’s wider plan to reindustrialise Britain by turning more home-grown ideas into successful businesses that scale in the UK.
Britain has world-class universities, researchers, and entrepreneurs, but too many discoveries fail to translate into major companies, productive investment and well-paid jobs in the communities where they began.
The Government’s new approach will combine national investment with greater local control, enabling Whitehall to focus on the decisions only central government can take while giving local leaders the freedom to build on the distinctive strengths of their areas.
It will also create a stronger partnership between government, business, and universities, bringing together the institutions needed to take an idea from the laboratory to the factory floor and the global market.
Additional information:
- Local leaders will receive dedicated devolved R&D funding for the first time, with the flexibility to support the strongest innovation opportunities in their areas to complement Good Growth Funds. The existing Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF) will be devolved to established Mayors from 2028.
- The LIPF announcement relates only to Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England. As the government set out in the Rewiring the State Cabinet Statement, we will work with the devolved governments and local and regional stakeholders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to explore how the benefits of local empowerment can be spread to all parts of the country.