The UK Prime Minister Theresa May is announcing how the government intends to use a long-term commitment to research and innovation to get the economy firing on all cylinders.

Plans include:

• substantial real terms increases in government investment worth £2 billion per year by 2020 for research and development, to ensure British business remains at the cutting edge of scientific and technological discovery
• a new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to back priority technologies – such as robotics and biotechnology – where the UK has the potential to turn strengths in research into a global industrial and commercial lead
• a review of current R&D tax incentives to ensure the global competitiveness of the UK as a home for scientists, innovators and tech investors

The new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, overseen by UK Research and Innovation, will back projects covering a number of priority technologies and help Britain build on existing strengths in research and development.

Despite its strengths in science, Britain has until now been relatively weak on commercialisation, meaning that all too often ideas developed in this country end up being commercialised elsewhere.

Government will consult on how the fund can best support emerging fields such as robotics and artificial intelligence, industrial biotechnology and medical technology, satellites, advanced materials manufacturing and other areas where the UK has a proven scientific strength and there is a significant economic opportunity for commercialisation.

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