Regions across England and Wales are the latest to be backed by
up to £20 million by the UK government to strengthen their local
innovation economies and unleash benefits across the UK.
Funding awarded through the competition element of the UK
government's £500 million Local Innovation Partnerships
Fund follows backing for the
Tay City Region's creative technologies sector.
The new funding will:
- Help the South West become one of the best places in the
world to develop, test and use autonomous technology like drones
on land, at sea and in the air.
- Bring together the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor's
strengths in autonomous vehicles, high‑performance engineering
and space technology, helping ideas move faster from test track
to real‑world use.
- Support Greater Lincolnshire in turning its mix of agri‑tech
and defence expertise into real‑world products and growing
businesses.
- Support 2 connected clusters in South-West Wales:
- Energy Security, helping scale offshore wind, hydrogen
and cleaner industrial energy using the region's ports and
infrastructure; and
- Materials Security, developing new ways to recover,
recycle and process critical materials so UK manufacturers
rely less on imports.
- Help East Midlands manufacturers to scale up clean energy and
advanced production technologies. New testing and validation
facilities, alongside supply‑chain and commercialisation support,
will help smaller firms work with global manufacturers and bring
new products to market.
- Jointly support the regions of East Yorkshire and Hull, and
separately Tees Valley, with up to £30m to support those regions
working on a powerful clean energy and industrial decarbonisation
programme that brings together the strengths and opportunities
across them.
UK Science and Technology Secretary said:
It is a tribute to the pioneering spirit in every corner of our
country that we are backing nations and regions across the UK to
advance innovation in everything from defence to AI and clean
energy to space tech.
This latest funding will take local expertise to the next level,
helping to create jobs and growth from Teesside to Cornwall and
build on our backing for local innovation in all 4 nations of the
UK.
By working with local leaders, researchers, and businesses, we
can unleash transformational research and products that improve
lives.
Local partners will now work with UK Research and Innovation
(UKRI) to design projects which target this investment, building
on existing local strengths. It will help to fast‑track ideas
from prototype to market, back collaborative R&D,
attract expert talent, and open up clear routes to investment and
new markets.
New funding builds on 10 regions who
were earmarked for a share of funding last year from
across the 4 nations.
Secretary of State for Wales said:
This UK government funding is vital to boost jobs and investment
in 2 leading sectors in South West Wales.
This is just one of a range of steps we are taking to build an
economy for Wales that is fit for the future, creating well-paid
and skilled jobs that put money into people's pockets and provide
employment for decades to come.
Adrian Dawson, Director of Strategic Project Development at the
University of Plymouth, said:
Over recent years, we have seen rapid expansion across the
autonomy sector, in terms of technologies and applications as
well as economic opportunities. However, the demand for
autonomous systems and solutions is only going to increase and
meeting that demand will require collaborative working across
industry, innovation, academia and government.
This initiative will enable the South West to build on its
existing expertise across land, sea and air and our vision is for
it to become the world's foremost region in the global autonomy
market, driving transformational growth in autonomous systems
that have wide-ranging defence and dual-use applications.
Professor David Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University,
said:
The Open University is proud to lead a partnership that brings
academia, industry and local government together to accelerate
commercial readiness, and unlock an estimated £4.5bn in annual
GVA by 2035 via the central spine of the Oxford–Cambridge region.
Our geography is already rich in talent, creativity and technical
excellence and is an area where research is scaled and translated
into engineered reality. The Innovation Circuit positions the
region as the nation's ‘engine room' for applied innovation,
where breakthroughs move rapidly from lab to street, and from
street to scale, driving UK competitiveness and global market
leadership.
Notes to editors:
This funding forms part of the record £86
billion R&D settlement until 2030 and represents a
key pillar of the government's modern Industrial
Strategy, supporting high-growth sectors in every region. For
areas ready to unlock their innovation potential, this
competition offers a transformative opportunity to secure the
partnerships and investment needed to drive growth and improve
lives across the country.
