Innovative research projects to receive government funding

• 17 research projects across the UK will receive up to £50,000 each to drive local economic growth, provide skills training and create high-value jobs
• Projects include accelerating building of offshore wind farms in the South West, digitising construction sites in the North East, and creating low carbon heat from disused mines in Glasgow
• Funding forms part of government plans to power up the country’s economic recovery through research and development

Ambitious research and innovation projects across the UK will today (Tuesday 11 August) receive up to £50,000 each of government funding, supporting their aim to create high value jobs, upskill local workers and boost economic growth.

The 17 projects, running from Glasgow and Belfast, through to Nottingham and parts of Cornwall, will help the UK to respond to some of the world’s most pressing challenges – from climate change to the production of medicines.

Projects include heating homes and businesses in Glasgow using energy from disused mines, digitising the UK construction sector so it is safer and more productive, researching quicker ways of diagnosing cancer, and accelerating building of large scale offshore wind farms in the South West of England.

Through the second round of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) flagship Strength in Places Fund, each project will be able to apply for a further longer-term investment of £10-50 million later this year if the early stages of development are successful.

It follows the announcement by the government in June this year of the first wave of the fund, which saw seven projects across the UK benefit from over £400 million of government and industry funding to develop their research and innovation projects.

One of these projects, Artemis Technologies, led a consortium that was awarded £33 million to develop zero emissions ferries in Northern Ireland – a project which will be viewed first-hand by Business Secretary Alok Sharma during a visit to Belfast today. At the site in Belfast Harbour, the Business Secretary is expected to meet with partners of the project to hear how it plans to establish Belfast as a global leader in zero emissions maritime technology.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said:

“We are backing our innovators and with the support they need to turn great ideas into first-class industries, products and technologies.

“From virtual construction projects to extracting clean heat from disused mines, the pioneering projects we are funding today will help create jobs and boost skills across the UK as we continue to drive forward our economic recovery.”

Projects each receiving up to £50,000 of early stage government funding include:

• HotScot, led by the University of Strathclyde, which will provide low-cost, low carbon heat to Scottish homes and businesses by extracting energy from disused, flooded mines in Glasgow. By overseeing three new geothermal minewater projects, the consortium aims to deliver economic growth equivalent to £303 million and around 9,800 jobs across the Central Belt of Scotland;
• South West Floating Offshore Wind Accelerator, led by the offshore renewable energy research company, Wave Hub. This will build on Cornwall and Plymouth’s world-renowned excellence in offshore renewables business and research, to fast track the building of large-scale floating offshore wind farms in the Celtic Sea from 2025 onwards. This will enable the region to make a decisive contribution to Britain’s offshore wind target of 40 Gigawatts by 2030, and also target a fivefold increase in Britain’s offshore wind exports;
• The International Centre for Connected Construction, led by Northumbria University, which will bring together experts from industry, academia and the public sector to create, test, and bring to market new technologies involving 3D modelling, smart cities and cloud computing. This will help engineers to tackle potential problems before building has even begun, ultimately speeding up construction and improving safety on building sites. The project aims to create 500 jobs across the North East, making the construction industry cleaner, safer, and more productive; and
• Trans- Mid, led by the University of Nottingham, which will partner universities with transport technology businesses, as well as local suppliers to the vehicle, aerospace and rail industries to develop new green products, with the aim of establishing the Midlands as a Supercluster for net zero transport. The project will form part of the UK’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050, creating thousands of new and upskilled jobs.
• The Northern Ireland Precision Biomarkers and Therapeutics Consortium, a consortium led by Queen’s University Belfast, will bring partners from industry and academia together to develop new, more cost-effective targeted drugs and antibodies, as well as researching new, quicker ways of diagnosing cancer. The long term aim is to attract and secure highly-skilled jobs to the region while making Northern Ireland’s life and health science sector more productive.

Today’s funding forms part of the government’s ambitious commitment to increase public spending in research and development (R&D) by £22 billion by 2024/25, putting the UK on track to reach 2.4% of GDP being spent on R&D across the UK economy by 2027.

It also follows the publication of the government’s R&D Roadmap last month, which sets out plans to drive the country’s economic recovery through research and development and level up UK regions.

ENDS

Notes to editors

The projects receiving funding as part of Strength in Places Fund wave 2 can be found here. Applications for the second wave of the Strength in Places Fund closed in October 2019. The winning projects will be awarded between £10m and £50m and is expected to be announced in Spring 2021.

The Strength in Places Fund is a UK Research and Innovation flagship competitive funding scheme that takes a place-based approach to research and innovation funding to support significant local economic growth. The fund supports collaborative bids from local consortia including both businesses and research organisations, with strong engagement from local leadership partners and alignment with local economic plans.

The Strength in Places Fund is delivered by UK Research and Innovation in partnership with:

• The Office for Students – higher education regulator for England
• The Department for the Economy – higher education funding body for Northern Ireland
• The Scottish Funding Council – higher education funding body for Scotland
• The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales

The full list of projects receiving funding include :

• Smart Nano Manufacturing Corridor (Northern Ireland): led by data company Seagate Technology Ireland, the project will bring together organisations from across the Belfast-Londonderry Corridor, connecting experts in photonics design, prototyping and mass-production of new miniaturized optical devices for medical imaging and cloud communications. Machine learning, data analytics and collaborative robotics will be adopted to enable the new products to be produced in higher volumes, more quickly, for increased productivity in Northern Ireland.
• The Northern Ireland Precision Biomarkers and Therapeutics Consortium (Northern Ireland):led by Queen’s University Belfast, the consortium will convene partners from industry and academia to develop new, more cost-effective targeted drugs and antibodies, as well as researching new, quicker ways of diagnosing cancer. The long term aim is to attract and secure highly-skilled jobs to the region while making Northern Ireland’s life and health science sector more productive.
• Digital Dairy Value-Chain (South-West Scotland and Cumbria): Led by Scotland’s Rural College, the consortium will combine digital communications with advanced manufacturing to help create a more modern, efficient, resilient dairy industry. It will provide dairy farmers in South West Scotland and Cumbria with access to innovative technologies and data, helping them improve their milk production and processing. The project will also seek to provide industry focused training for dairy farmers in remote rural regions, accelerating their digital business skills, and helping to increase the productivity of their farms and business models.
• Centre for Regulated Bio-Manufacture (Edinburgh): led by Heriot-Watt University, the consortium aims to establish an advanced therapies, biologics and manufacturing cluster in the Lothian region. Working with the NHS and industry, and through the creation of a new building for Real world learning and cutting edge laboratory facilities, it will seek provide highly skilled training for the local population to help identify essential new therapies and bio therapeutics such as antibodies for the UK.
• HotScot (Glasgow): led by the University of Strathclyde, the consortium oversee three new minewater geothermal projects, extracting heat from old flooded mines, which will help to provide low-cost, low-emissions heat for communities and businesses across Scotland’s Central Belt.
• Creative Capital (Cardiff): led by Cardiff University, the project will look to harness the digital innovation displayed in the response to Covid-19, as well as Cardiff’s international reputation for film and TV production, by bringing together UK broadcasters, small local businesses and freelancers to research and develop new products and services in Wales for global markets.
• The International Centre for Connected Construction (Newcastle): led by Northumbria University, the project will bring together experts from industry, academia and the public sector to create, test, and bring to market new technologies involving 3D modelling, smart cities and cloud computing. This will help engineers to tackle potential problems before building has even begun, ultimately speeding up construction and improving safety on building sites. The project aims to create 500 jobs across the North East, making the construction industry cleaner, safer, and more productive
• Trans- Mid (Nottingham): Led by the University of Nottingham, the project will partner universities with transport technology businesses, as well as local suppliers to the vehicle, aerospace and rail industries to develop new green products, with the aim of establishing the Midlands as a Supercluster for net zero transport. The project will form part of the UK’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050, creating thousands of new and upskilled jobs.
• Suffolk and Norfolk Research and Innovation on the Sustainable Energy Coast (Suffolk and Norfolk): Led by the University of East Anglia, the project will build on the local strengths of the Suffolk and Norfolk Coast, which is crucial for the UK’s offshore wind, gas and energy supply. Through a dedicated innovation team, and £30 billion of private investment it will develop, test and deliver new solutions in clean energy, marine and aquaculture technologies, addressing technical and environmental challenges that inhibit the sustainable economic development of the southern North Sea.
• To Deliver Data Driven Next Generation Healthcare from Whitechapel (London): led by Queen Mary University, the project will harness artificial intelligence and data technology to provide better healthcare for patients living in East London, specifically Whitechapel, where chronic health problems are significantly higher than the national average. Through the funding, it will create a space for academics, clinicians and industry to work together with the local hospitals to develop and test new treatments.
• Transforming productivity in complex medicines (Cheshire and Warrington): led by the Medicines Discovery Catapult, and the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, the consortium aims to accelerate the development of a North West Complex Medicines cluster, by working with and supporting technology driven startups and spin outs in the Cheshire and Warrington regions. By creating a regional cluster of life sciences excellence, it will deliver better patient outcomes, driven from within Cheshire and Warrington.
• Creative City + (Manchester): Led by Manchester Metropolitan University, the consortium aims to enhance local productivity through stimulating R&D activity to increase the knowledge, skills and expertise in the creative industries required to develop innovative products and services. It will do this through the creation of three Innovation Labs, as well as a Creative Economy Observatory and Future Skill Production hub, providing direct support and access to digital technologies for creative businesses of all sizes across the region. The project also seeks to address equality and diversity within the sector.
• Accelerated Medicines Design and Development (Kent): Led by the Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network, the project aims to grow the Kent’s life science sector, through the development of a Medicines Design Studio in Sandwich. Innovative businesses will be able to collaborate with industry partners such as Pfizer, the National Measurement Laboratory and the University of Kent, creating around 400 jobs and contributing an estimated £180 million to the local economy over the next 15 years.
• South West Floating Offshore Wind Accelerator (Cornwall and Plymouth): Led by the offshore renewable energy research company, Wave Hub, this project will build on Cornwall and Plymouth’s world-renowned excellence in offshore renewables business and research, to fast track the building of large-scale floating offshore wind farms in the Celtic Sea from 2025 onwards. This will enable the region to make a decisive contribution to Britain’s offshore wind target of 40 Gigawatts by 2030, and also target a fivefold increase in Britain’s offshore wind exports.
• CW Creative Futures (Coventry and Warwickshire): Led by Coventry University, the project will build on the regions world leading ‘Silicon Spa’ gaming cluster, home to over 50 games studios and 3,000 gaming businesses, harnessing the region’s unique skillset and infrastructure to create immersive products and services across new sectors such as automotive, advanced manufacturing and digital healthcare. Partnering with local small to medium businesses, it will accelerate investments in demonstrator projects, helping to increase job creation and economic growth that is rooted in the region’s diversity and creativity.
• Midlands Advanced Ceramics for Industry 4.0 (Midlands): Led by the Lucideon Group, the project will work with the Midlands Industrial Ceramics Group, as well as local manufacturers and researchers to help establish the Midlands as a global leader in advanced ceramics, which are vital for UK manufacturing sectors including energy, healthcare, aerospace and defence. By using cutting edge digital modelling, it will help to bring new advanced ceramics technologies to market quicker, with less energy usage and lower carbon emissions. This will lead to a faster commercialization of new products, helping to improve the performance for next generation products including fuel cells, batteries, 5G communications, and medical devices. The consortium aims to create over 4,000 jobs across the Midlands by 2030, developing an advanced ceramics supply chain that can export into one of the fastest growing international markets.
• Advanced Machinery & Productivity Institute (West Yorkshire and Lancashire): Led by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) the project will build on existing research capabilities across the North of England through the creation of the Advanced Machinery & Productivity Institute. Bringing together industry, local government, higher education institutions, it will provide a collaborative space for the local workforce to design, develop and manufacture advanced machinery and robotic systems, delivering the products and services needed by future industries – from electric vehicle parts to battery technologies. Once completed, the Advanced Machinery Institute will generate significant export potential for UK machinery and robot producers.