The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced an expansion to the High-Value Manufacturing Catapult sites, which are fuelling innovation across the country as part of the UK’s ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy.
Catapult sites have helped create hundreds of new products, services and inventions, including a portable pollution sensor that parents can attach to a child’s buggy, cellular therapies to fight cancer and improve recovery of stroke victims, LED treatment for blindness, and more-efficient wings for aeroplanes.
“We are working hard to build a stronger, fairer economy – dealing with the deficit, helping people into work, and cutting taxes for individuals and businesses,” said Hammond. “Unemployment is at its lowest since the 1970s, our national debt is starting to fall, and the economy has grown every year since 2010.
“It is by backing innovative British companies to grow and create jobs that we will continue this progress and build an economy fit for the future. Today’s £780 million investment will support innovators across the country to create the technologies of the future, and the better, highly-paid jobs we urgently need.”
This announcement builds on an additional £180m announced last month for investment in the North East of England. It marks the largest investment in R&D for 40 years.
“We are a nation of innovators, creators and entrepreneurs,” added Business Secretary, Greg Clark. “Through our modern Industrial Strategy, backed by the largest investment in R&D in 40 years, we are boosting growth, creating new highly skilled jobs and helping change people’s lives for the better.
“This government wants to make the UK the most innovative nation in the world and the investment in our world leading catapult network will play a key role in building on UK strengths, bringing new ideas and products to market and helping drive local economies across the UK.”
“This announcement will be welcome news for manufacturers, Britain's innovators, who perform 70% of all business research and development,” commented Lee Hopley, chief economist at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation. “Catapult centres are an important part of the mix in helping industry to deliver on innovation by bridging the gap with academia, and awareness and use of them has been steadily increasing over time, showing how vital this source of support and funding is.
“Innovation is central to manufacturing growth and a key driver of productivity across the economy, in addition to today's announcement we also need to see government come forward with a roadmap to achieve the target of 2.4% of GDP being spent on research and development with manufacturers standing ready to deliver on this goal.
“Additionally, collaboration is one of the core benefits of using Catapults a benefit which is supplemented by our engagement in EU collaborative programmes such as Horizon 2020. The UK must remain an active partner in future programmes such as Horizon Europe post-Brexit to ensure the entire innovation eco-system, including Catapults, achieves the 2.4% target.”
