Chancellor George Osborne put the UK’s innovation agency at the heart of the Government’s growth agenda, when he announced a £185 million budget increase for the Technology Strategy Board.
The move will enable the innovation agency to have a more powerful impact on the role it can play in generating UK economic growth by building on its existing support programmes for innovative UK businesses.
The areas set to benefit include the Biomedical Catalyst, additional support for innovations in energy and biotechnology, and the network of Catapult centres.
Welcoming the announcement, universities and science minister David Willetts said: “The increase in funding for the Technology Strategy Board recognises the essential work it is doing to support innovative businesses in commercialising their products and getting them into the market place.
“Programmes such as Smart, the Biomedical Catalyst and Catapult centres are keeping the UK at the front of the global race to commercialise new technologies, driving the growth agenda and playing an important role in our industrial strategy.”
Established, successful business support programmes will benefit from the budget increase and new programmes will be developed.
John Cridland, director general of the CBI, commented: “The £185m boost for the Technology Strategy Board - a crucial anchor for innovation - is very welcome. Innovation is a crucial engine of growth and it has been under-resourced for far too long. Protecting the science budget will help maintain growing levels of business investment in R&D.”
Since it was established six years ago, the Technology Strategy Board has delivered a wide range of programmes that support innovative technologies that are not only generating UK business growth but also promise to radically improve the quality of life for millions of people living in the UK and abroad. These include more efficient, affordable and well-designed low carbon vehicles, transformative cell therapy and stratified medicine treatments for cancer and other severe health conditions, innovative solutions to help older adults live independently for longer and radical new designs and products that promise to transform the homes of the near future.
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