£6bn package for UK science and innovation

The Government has unveiled plans to support British science and innovation with a new Science and Innovation Strategy which sets out priorities for investment and support in the years ahead.

Highlights include:

• £3 billion to support individual capital projects and institutional capital to maintain the excellence of laboratories at universities and research institutes
• £2.9 billion towards large capital projects to support scientific ‘Grand Challenges’, including a £30 million UK commitment to ‘XFEL’ – an international free electron laser project – and £20 million to create an ‘Inspiring Science Capital Fund’ to get the public more engaged in science. Pre-committed projects such as Polar Ship and Square Kilometre Array will also benefit from additional investment
• up to £235 million for a ‘Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials’ based in Manchester
• £95 million for European Space Agency programmes, including taking the lead in the next European Rover mission to Mars
• £61 million will be invested in the government-backed High Value Manufacturing Catapult and an additional £28 million will create a new National Formulation Centre within the Catapult to drive innovation and develop the next generation of technology products
• a new offer of up to £10,000 of income contingent loans for postgraduate taught masters degrees