Councils across every UK nation are accessing millions in central government funding to unlock ‘regional strengths’ like AI and life sciences in a bid to improve lives.
Each country is being offered £30million to drive transformative research and innovation in their regions. Work must be focused on raising living standards and quality of life for residents.
Glasgow City Region, Cardiff Capital Region, Belfast/Derry-Londonderry have now successfully secured investment. This is in addition to seven English regions, including the North East, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region and Greater London.
Financing comes from the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, which is worth up to £500million, and builds on a pilot scheme which has already secured £140million in private investment.
Areas considered to be high potential due to their existing technology sectors and infrastructure, but which have not been allocated funding, will have the opportunity to enter a competition through UK Research and Innovation. Guidance on this will be published soon.
‘All across the UK there are incredible projects and fantastic innovation taking place. We know that these are critical for the UK’s success,’ said Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle.
‘This fund now gives local leaders in every nation of the UK the chance to proudly capitalise on their city or region’s expertise, from AI to life sciences, medicines to engineering,’ he continued. ‘With backing for more regions to come we can unlock the new jobs and business opportunities that are central to boosting the economic growth at the heart of our Plan for Change.’
Projects already underway include Moonbility in the West Midlands, which is using AI software to help train companies conduct real time simulations on network disruption. In turn, this allows them to deliver more accurate information to passengers.
In Greater Manchester, Future Homes is pioneering research into more efficient housing, while another team are working on technology to detect heart and lung diseases much faster and cheaper than is currently possible. And in Glasgow researchers are developing early colon cancer detection processes, which could save thousands of lives.
Image: Louis Reed / Unsplash
More on Digital Business:
Leave a Reply