To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with local authorities and regional mayors on the devolution of innovation funding or other forms of innovation deals.
Answered on
3 February 2022
The Levelling Up White Paper sets out how we will maximise the contribution of innovation to levelling up by building on existing and emerging strengths across the country.
We are committed to taking a place-based approach – tailoring support to the research, development and innovation strengths of different places and developing policies in partnership with local government, businesses and R&D institutions.
New Innovation Accelerator pilots will support three places in the UK with world class research strengths to grow their local innovation clusters by attracting industrial R&D, creating new career opportunities and creating a more vibrant innovation ecosystem in the wider region. In addition to receiving bespoke support from the UK Government, a total of £100m R&D funding will be available to these places for projects between 2022/23 and 2024/25. Should these pilots prove successful, we will consider how to build on this approach in future.
The policies in the Levelling Up White Paper have been informed by views from across the UK - including our R&D Place Advisory Group, which includes Local Enterprise Partnership, and Mayoral Combined Authority bodies - to understand how we can build on our excellence in research and innovation so that more people and places benefit.