The Government has confirmed its support for a series of research projects in science and technology.
For people investment planning in Cheshire tech, the funding will include new drug treatments, evolutions in artificial intelligence (AI) and longer-lasting batteries. The £22.5 billion annual package will be spread out over the next four years.
Of these funds, up to £500 million will be allocated to regional authorities to target local investments. There will be boosts for the life sciences industry on Merseyside and semiconductors in Wales, while seven mayoral strategic authorities across England will each receive awards of £30 million. A competition will open access to other parts of the country.
In potentially welcome news for the North West, a £4.8 million partnership was announced between Manchester and Cambridge in a bid to attract more business investment. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, is also overhauling the Treasury’s ‘green book’ to ensure that the rules that determine public investment plans are fair to all regions.
She said that Britain was the ‘home’ of science and technology and that the funding would create employment, improve national security and make people better off. As part of the Government’s spending review, capital investment worth £113 billion is going into energy, transport and homes.
Her colleague Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Science and Technology, added that research and development (R&D) is poised to make people’s lives healthier and easier, with new medicines leading to longer lives, and AI tech enhancing everything from train journeys to climate change protection.
