Government gives UK businesses £57m boost to bring ideas to market

A new funding boost of £57.5 million has been announced for the UK’s energy and infrastructure, biomedical and quantum technology sectors.

• Business Secretary chaired the first fortnightly inter-ministerial meeting on business engagement
• new fund will help the development of innovative UK business ideas looking at tackling climate change and cancer

A new funding boost of £57.5 million was announced for the UK’s energy and infrastructure, biomedical and quantum technology sectors by Business Secretary Sajid Javid at the first inter-ministerial group on business engagement.

Chaired by the Business Secretary, the meeting brought together ministers from across government to discuss issues and challenges facing businesses in all sectors, and how government could support them following the outcome of the EU referendum, including creating opportunities for investment and trade. It was agreed at the meeting that government needed to “speak with one voice” to engage and deal with “immediate investment risks and domestic policy issues”. Meeting every 2 weeks, ministers recognised they all need to work together to support businesses and “turbo-charge our export efforts” – with next week’s Farnborough Air Show presenting a real opportunity.

At the meeting Sajid Javid also announced the immediate creation of a new £57.5 million fund to help boost innovative businesses across a range of sectors. The best ideas will compete for funding to develop new sustainable energy and transport solutions, bring new healthcare advancements to market and drive forward commercial advances in quantum technology (used in electronic devices such as clocks and computers).

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:

"Creating opportunities for businesses to thrive in the UK is essential for increasing productivity, creating jobs, and boosting our economy. That’s why government is working with businesses across all sectors to ensure they have the support they need to grow now and in the future.

"Part of our success will be to help propel innovative UK business even further – not only do our world-leading innovators and research base attract foreign investment, their ideas go on to improve the lives of millions of people. Whether tackling climate change or cancer, this new funding will help get the best ideas onto the market quicker and shows our commitment to make the UK the best place in Europe to innovate, set up and grow a business."

The series of competitions will open over the next 2 weeks and be run by Innovate UK and its partner organisations. The competitions will include:

• 2 competitions totalling £28 million to develop new solutions to provide affordable, sustainable and secure energy delivery, integration of different modes of transport or tackle the challenges of modern urban living that will help businesses secure future investment for ideas. These include Innovation in infrastructure systems and First of a kind deployment of innovation

• the joint £10 million Biomedical Catalyst 2016 competition between Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and Scottish Enterprise to develop innovative healthcare technologies that will help offer potential cures, prevent disease, manage chronic conditions or lead to earlier detection and diagnosis

• a £19.5 million joint competition with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to develop commercial applications for quantum technologies. This competition builds on the UK’s roadmap for quantum technologies and is particularly looking to support companies developing devices such as clocks, sensors, imaging, communications or computing.

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