Corporate report

DSIT Research and Development (R&D) plans to 2029/2030

Published 30 October 2025

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Introduction

This page outlines the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT) plans for Research and Development (R&D) budget allocations to key partner organisations for the financial years 2026/2027 to 2029/2030. DSIT has a central role in delivering the government’s agenda, with long-term economic growth dependent on strong innovation and R&D. Public investment in R&D generates significant benefits for the UK, with each pound of public R&D investment estimated to leverage, on average, £2 of private R&D investment and generate £8 of net benefits in the long run. [footnote 1]

We are publishing this to give visibility and clarity on the development of our plans relating to DSIT’s R&D budgets. More detail on the outcomes the funding will support will be published later this year, for example across the 3 R&D priorities for DSIT of:

(1) protecting curiosity-driven, foundational science
(2) supporting strategic government and societal priorities
(3) targeting innovative, UK-based company scale-up and growth

DSIT is taking a new approach to managing its R&D funding in a more agile way. This will allow us to move some funding across financial years (for example where projects encounter unavoidable delays), reallocate funding where a programme underspends (for example, funding calls which encounter low take-up), and deprioritise investment that is not delivering the outcomes expected and double down on investments or new discoveries which will drive growth or deliver impact. [footnote 2] DSIT will aim to spend as close to budget as possible as it manages its R&D portfolio but will utilise these flexibilities to maximise value for money. However, this means figures in this publication should be treated as a guide and will not necessarily reconcile to outturn data at the end of each financial year.

DSIT’s overall R&D budget will grow in real terms over the Spending Review (SR) period, totalling £58.5 billion from 2026/2027 to 2029/2030 and driving economic growth, supporting the Industrial Strategy sectors, and delivering on the AI Opportunities Action Plan. The table below set out details on £55.4 billion of this allocation, with some DSIT R&D programmes not included where details are in the process of being finalised. Further detail will be set out in due course.  The allocations outlined below include funding for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), association to Horizon Europe and its successor, as well as allocations for our Public Sector Research Establishments. All these allocations will support vital investment in universities, research institutes, and businesses across the UK.

UKRI will deliver an expected £38.6 billion of R&D investment from the financial year 2026/2027 to the financial year 2029/2030, rising to nearly £10 billion per annum by the end of the period. This includes funding for specific activity that UKRI will deliver on behalf of DSIT (e.g. on critical technologies) – which is subject to change as delivery plans are finalised – but does not include funding for programmes which UKRI administers on behalf of other government departments. The overall increase in UKRI’s allocation will support the Higher Education sector and industry and drive the UK’s economic growth. A more detailed breakdown of UKRI’s budgets will be published in December. The new UKRI CEO will be overseeing a transformation of UKRI focused on improving its accountability, leadership and governance, and organisational effectiveness and efficiency, to ensure it is set-up to deliver its allocation in line with the government’s R&D priorities.

Table 1: DSIT R&D plans to 2029/2030 (all figures £ million)[footnote 3]

Organisation/programme 2025/2026 2026/2027 2027/2028 2028/2029 2029/2030 Total 2026/2027 to 2029/2030[footnote 4]
UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) [footnote 5] 8,811 9,220 9,589 9,791 9,986 38,586
UK contribution to EU programmes  [footnote 6] 2,736 2,121 2,195 2,200 2,200 8,716
UK Space Agency [footnote 7] 668 679 693 706 720 2,798
Met Office [footnote 8] 310 327 456 337 347 1,467
Advanced Research & Invention Agency (ARIA) [footnote 9] 184 220 300 300 400 1,220
National Academies [footnote 10] 217 219 226 230 235 910
Office for Life Sciences [footnote 11] 129 264 286 229 146 925
National Measurement System 130 131 139 143 145 558
AI Security Institute (AISI) [footnote 12] 66 60 60 60 60 240

Footnotes / disclaimers

  1. As set out in ‘The Value of Public R&D’, DSIT Research Report Series Number: DSIT 2025/036 ↩

  2. As set out in Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, on “Budget Exchange”. See Consolidated Budgeting Guidance ↩

  3. Allocation numbers indicate planned budget to 2029/2030 and are rounded to the nearest million. Totals will be different to the Spending Review publication, as some DSIT programmes are not included here. More detail will be published later this year. ↩

  4. Totals are for the period 2026/2027 to 2029/2030 ↩

  5. The UKRI figure for 2025/2026 does not include a small number of DSIT managed programmes. ↩

  6. This line includes the United Kingdom’s contribution towards, or spending associated with, EU Programmes including Horizon Europe, Copernicus and Horizon Europe Guarantee costs. The exact annual cost is subject to change. This allocation makes provisions for our existing membership of Horizon Europe and Copernicus and the first 2 years of their successor programmes. The budget and scope of the successor programmes are currently uncertain and subject to future negotiations between Member States, the Commission and the European Parliament. The UK will continue to engage constructively with the EU as these details become clearer. This allocation will be reviewed once more information is known. Figures for 2026/2027 onwards are lower as spend on the Guarantee begins to wind down, and due to the assumed impact of the UK’s automatic correction mechanism as part of the UK’s association agreement to Horizon Europe. ↩

  7. UKSA will merge into DSIT from 1 April 2026. ↩

  8. The increased Met Office costs in 2027/2028 reflect the contractual commitment to pay the generation 2 supercomputer milestone. ↩

  9. DSIT will seek opportunities to increase ARIA’s allocation in each financial year if new investment opportunities arise. ↩

  10. Academies’ figures represent the core non-official development assistance (ODA) allocation. The Academies also receive funding from other DSIT programmes including the International Science Partnership Fund. ↩

  11. This is for Office for Life Sciences (OLS) R&D spend only. Over the first three years, OLS will continue to invest heavily in Our Future Health to complete recruitment for this unique capability. Funding decreases towards the end of the period as Our Future Health will have completed recruitment. This does not capture all life sciences investment through OLS, as non-R&D manufacturing funding is excluded ↩

  12. Funding reflects planned activity to maintain current operations over the SR period ↩

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