9 Mar 2017
The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, delivered the final Spring Budget statement yesterday. He announced funding for research and development, and for skills to help supply our science and innovation sector with the workforce that it needs to deliver the Industrial Strategy.
Supporting Collaboration between academia and business
The budget confirmed the allocation of £160 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) – originally promised in December’s Autumn Statement, to support new fellowships for early and mid-career researchers.
£90 million of the allocations will be used for 1,000 new PhD and fellowship positions, with 85 percent of them being in STEM subjects, and 40 percent aimed at strengthening collaborations between the academic and the business worlds.
The budget statement also confirmed £100 million of funding over the next four years from existing streams and the NPIF to attract the best and brightest minds to the UK.
Technical training
The Chancellor also announced £500 million of funding for technical training, with the launch of ‘T-levels’, 15 standardised technical qualification routes, that will increase the number of hours of training for students by over 50%, and require all students to take part in an industry work placement.
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