The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has confirmed that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce, at the Spending Review on Wednesday, a funding package for R&D worth £86 billion over the next five years. The investment will also feature a new £500 million Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LPIF) earmarked for local leaders.
Commenting on the funding, Yorkshire Universities (YU) Executive Director, Dr Peter O’Brien, said:
“Given the challenging financial and fiscal environment, this funding package is welcome. Whilst we await specific details of how the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund will operate, confirmation that the South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire Established Strategic Mayoral Authorities will be allocated dedicated awards each of at least £30 million is very good news. We hope the two other Mayoral Authorities in our region, York and North Yorkshire and Hull and East Yorkshire, which themselves have the potential to drive skilled jobs and investment in high value innovation clusters, are recipients of significant place-based R&D funding.”
Today (9 June), YU has published a statement outlining some key principles on which the LPIF should be designed around. YU will consult with DSIT, UK Research and Innovation, and Yorkshire’s four Mayoral Authorities on the statement, in support of strengthening member contributions to increased and more impactful research and innovation.
