PRESS RELEASE : Spring Budget puts UK on fast-track to becoming science and technology superpower [March 2024]

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 7 March 2024.

Yesterday’s budget unveiled an ambitious package of announcements designed to boost the UK’s science and technology sectors, unleashing innovation to drive growth, create jobs, and improve lives.

Alongside tax cuts for workers, harnessing technology to benefit the public sector was at the heart of the Chancellor’s Spring Budget that will deliver the long-term change our country needs to deliver a brighter future for Britain, and improve economic security and opportunity for everyone.

An £800 million reform package will free-up time for staff at the frontline of public services including cutting result waiting times in the NHS and slashing admin tasks for the police.

In a further boost for the UK’s world-class life sciences sector, charities including Cancer Research UK will receive £45 million to help launch the next generation of medical research careers. The move will assist in the fight against some the biggest global health challenges including diseases such as dementia, cancer, and epilepsy – while making the innovations that will help grow the economy.

The statement also backed science and tech businesses through investments in critical life science manufacturing projects worth £92 million, set to increase health resilience whilst supporting innovation and job creation. This is part of the wider Government plan to keep building a stronger economy where hard work is rewarded, ambition and aspiration are celebrated, and young people get the skills they need to succeed in life.

Two major pharmaceutical companies are already investing a combined £84 million in their UK manufacturing sites and will receive an extra cash injection from government. Almac in Northern Ireland produces drugs to treat diseases such as cancer and heart disease whilst Ortho Clinical diagnostics in Pencoed Wales is expanding testing facilities to help identify a range of conditions and diseases.

To ensure the UK remains an international leader in AI safety and to support the transition to an AI-enabled economy to fuel growth, funding of the world-leading Turing Institute will be boosted to £100 million. This will help cement the institutes leadership in setting research agendas alongside supporting UK business and government’s adoption of AI.

The funding comes on top of the £100 million already invested to establish the UK’s AI Safety Institute – the world’s first state-backed institute dedicated to AI Safety.

Secretary of State for Science and Technology, Michelle Donelan said:

The public and economic benefits technological and scientific innovation can drive are immense. That is why I am focused on delivering this government’s record level of investment to cement the UK’s place as a Science and Technology Superpower.

Yesterday’s Budget puts us firmly on the path to achieving this goal. Whether channelling technological advances into the public sector or doubling down on our leadership in AI advances and safety, we are unleashing innovation to drive economic growth and prosperity for everyone.

The Chancellor also announced innovative new pilots to improve nationwide data access whilst placing data protection and security at the centre of the UK’s approach. Two new Data Access Pilots in education and adult social care will help generate new AI services to support teachers alongside promoting better data access supporting productivity in the social care sector.

To help foster a resilient UK space sector, the full £160 million Connectivity Low Earth Orbit programme was launched to ensure British R&D is at the forefront of satellite communication innovation. The programme is key to offering connectivity and high-speed broadband to remote and rural communities, helping bridge the digital divide and level-up across the UK.

The budget also announced £10 million has been made available for the SaxaVord Spaceport – the UK’s first licensed vertical spaceport. Building on the growing spaceport capability across the country, the funding will help deliver on the National Space Strategy goal for the UK to become the first European country to launch a satellite into orbit.

Among the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology policies announced in the Spring Budget are:

Medical research

Life science manufacturing investment

New investment in the UK’s life sciences sector worth £92 million will help, boost health resilience encourage innovation whilst supporting jobs and growing the economy.

Ortho Clinical diagnostics in Pencoed, Wales and pharmaceutical company Almac based in Norther Ireland are already investing £84 million in their UK sites and will receive a further £7.5 million from government.

This investment will be geared towards Almac’s development of drugs to treat diseases including cancer, heart disease and depression, whilst Ortho Clinical is expanding product testing facilities used to identify a variety of diseases and conditions.

Medical research career funding

To help secure the long-term future of the UK’s Science Superpower mission, charities including Cancer Research UK, Epilepsy Research UK and Medical Research Scotland will receive £45 million to launch the careers of the next generation of medical researchers.

Delivered through the Medical Research Charities Early-Career Researcher Fund, which has already supported 1,600 researchers to date, the funding will nurture a new pipeline of talent to tackle some of the biggest global health challenges.

Artificial Intelligence

Alan Turing Institute funding boost

The Chancellor announced the doubling of investment for the Alan Turing Institute (ATI), the internationally leading body for data science AI, bringing its total funding to £100 million.

The ambitious new £50 million package over five-years will build on the ATI’s work to-date to help address national and international challenges in areas such as health, environment and sustainability alongside defence and security.

This significant boost to the UK’s AI ecosystem will drive better value for years to come and boost the Institutes’ ability to provide organisations with the skills, open access infrastructure, and R&I resources alongside training provision.

AI Safety Institute update

The Budget also updated on the AI Safety Institute’s (AISI) progress in delivering its goal to test the most advanced AI systems, ensuring the UK and world is prepared for the impact of frontier AI models.

The Chancellor confirmed the AISI has conducted the world’s first evaluations by any government of frontier AI models before and after release. This means the UK has the most advanced capability of any country in understanding how AI can be used safely to benefit society.

AI upskilling fund launched

Following on from the launch of the AI Opportunity Forum in January this year to encourage the adoption of AI across the private sector, the Budget also launched a new £7.4 million flexible AI business upskilling fund. The pilot will help SME’s unlock the opportunities AI brings and develop AI skills of the future, helping fuel growth across the economy.

AI Research Resource

Also announced was the intention to publish a plan later this year setting how government will manage access to the UK’s cutting-edge public AI compute facilities which are critical for AI development. The resources will provide researchers and innovative companies with the compute power needed to use AI for cutting-edge research and development of the most advanced AI products anywhere in the world.

Data

New public sector data pilots

DSIT funding for two new data pilots worth £3.5 million will help create coherent, safely accessible data assets to support staff and researchers in the adult social care and education sectors.

The funding will support a Department for Education initiative for innovative and high-quality education AI tools and extend a Department for Health and Social Care project to improve data access in adult social care.

Data research cloud details confirmed

Details of four data research cloud projects worth £5.29 million were also revealed to unlock data’s potential for research innovation. The pilots will give researchers access to highest quality data to help cement the UK’s status as a world leading research hub. Confirmation of the pilots can be found on the UKRI website.

Space

C-LEO launch

The full £160 million Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (C-LEO) programme was also announced yesterday. Building on the initial £15 million C-LEO call announced at Autumn Statement, the four-year programme will ensure the UK becomes a global leader in next generation satellite communication technologies whilst creating hundreds of highly skilled jobs. The cutting-edge technology is critical for bringing connectivity to harder to reach areas, bridging the digital divide across the UK whilst growing the economy.

The programme will ensure the UK space sector is able to compete in a rapidly growing global market of LEO constellations. Building on an already well established and growing small satellites industry in the UK, the initiative will provide researchers and businesses with critical support to drive the development of new constellations.

SaxaVord Spaceport investment

The government has made available £10 million in the UK’s first licensed vertical spaceport located on the Shetland Islands, SaxaVord Spaceport. This will help achieve the goal set out in the National Space Strategy for the UK to become the first European country to launch a satellite into orbit and a leading small satellite launch destination by 2030.

Establishing orbital launch capabilities across the UK is helping bring new jobs and investment to communities including rural areas and inspiring the next generation of space professionals.

Quantum investment

As part of the growth measure package, £1.6 million was announced for an error correction programme to progress delivery of the UK’s Quantum Computing Mission. The programme will enhance the UK’s leading position globally in quantum computing by understanding how to reduce unwanted disturbances in the hardware. This will help to make quantum computers bigger and more powerful, bringing about significant positive changes for society.

Innovate UK Launchpads

Following successful Launchpad pilots in Liverpool and Tees Valley, and eight further projects announced in October last year, a new agri-food Launchpad was announced in partnership with Ceredigion Council and the Welsh government. The Innovate UK Launchpads programme supports emerging clusters of SMEs through funding, wrap-around support and networking opportunities to help businesses innovate and grow.

The latest launch will support business-led projects focused on vital issues like net zero farming, helping to grow innovation clusters across Mid and North Wales.