The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced £55 billion in research and development (R&D) funding for research agencies and bodies who are making science and tech breakthroughs.

The investment will fund a wide range of projects from airport screening technology to medical treatments.

The DSIT said the investment is the largest it has ever made into R&D.

UKRI, the UK’s national funding agency for science and research, will deliver more than £38 billion from 2026/2027 to 2029/2030, including nearly £10 billion in 2029/2030 alone.

The technology department added that the budget for ARIA, a UK agency which backs long-term breakthroughs, will rise from £220 million a year to £400 million a year by 2029/2030.
The Met Office is also to receive over £1.4 billion to research climate science.

The DSIT said these allocations will support vital investment in universities, research institutes, and businesses across the UK.

It says that each pound spent on R&D delivers £8 in wider economic benefits over the long term, adding that private investment is a key part of this, with every £1 of public money invested in R&D crowding in a further £2 in private investment on average.

IBM is one company which is working in partnership with publicly funded researchers and attracting private investment.

The government said that the technology company has worked on a wide range of projects from quantum to robotics and made breakthroughs including the first cutting-edge antibody products which have transformed some cancers from a “guaranteed death sentence” to manageable chronic conditions.

IBM is also working in partnership with publicly-funded researchers through UKRI’s £210 million Hartree Centre, to bring AI, quantum computing and supercomputing to bear to discover new medicines, and breakthroughs in clean energy.

The DSIT also highlighted Oxford Nanopore, a company which is developing the world’s first pandemic early warning system, and Cobalt Light Systems, who make the tech that’ is used to screen liquids at airports, as companies which have both benefitted from funding in previous years.

Science and technology secretary Liz Kendall said backing the best and brightest researchers and innovators is essential as their ideas are boosting growth and creating the industries of tomorrow.

“They are making the impossible, possible, from health to clean energy and beyond,” she added. “By investing in their work, we are backing the long-term success of the UK, by paving the way for breakthroughs that will help us all to live and work better.”

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