£229M for construction of new research and development centres

Business Secretary announces £229M funding for industrial strategy investment in science, research and innovation.

Business and Energy Secretary, Greg Clark, has announced that two new world-class centres will be built, following £229M of funding for UK research and development.

Included in the investment is £126M in grants for the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, supporting the creation of a world-leading research centre at the University of Manchester, with satellite centres at the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College.

The Royce Institute’s proposed areas will be grouped into four themes- energy, engineering, functional and soft materials.

Greg Clark has also announced £103M Government investment in a new national centre of excellence for life and physical sciences, at the Rosalind Franklin Institute (RFI), located at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxford.

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said: “Research and development has a proven track record of making our economy more competitive and creating new products, services and better ways of doing business. For these reasons, we’ve placed the UK’s strengths in science, research and innovation at the core of our modern Industrial Strategy.

“Government investment in these two centres for advanced materials and life and physical sciences will support growth across a range of sectors, provide the skills and training to grow our expertise in these cutting-edge fields, and facilitate positive collaboration between industry, academia and Government.”

Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca Pascal Soriot said: “As a long-standing investor in UK science and partnerships with academia, we believe the creation of vibrant geographic areas of excellence would truly catalyse discovery and innovation. Supported by transport and housing infrastructure that facilitate collaboration and attract the best talent, these clusters would boost the knowledge economy and anchor industrial activity throughout the UK.”

Ministers from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will be visiting businesses and universities across the East of England and Midlands to hear and discuss the views of businesses, workers and academics on the Government’s vision for an Industrial Strategy.

The Business Secretary and Ministers will then be hosting an evening reception with business leaders, start-ups and local leaders in Birmingham at the Innovation Birmingham Campus; home to 170 businesses that employ approximately 1,100 staff in total.

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