The UK has announced details of its additional £600 million ($967 million) investment in Research Council infrastructure announced last year (see IBO 12/15/12). Big Data programs received £189 million in new funding, which will contribute to research in areas such as bioinformatics and environmental monitoring. Phase 2 of the National Space Technology Programme received £25 million for technology implementation. Centers of excellence in Robotics & Autonomous Systems were allocated £35 million. For implementation of the recommendations from the country’s Synthetic Biology road map £88 million was designated. As part of the Regenerative Medicine Platform, £20 million was designated for imaging and cell manufacture technologies and for a clean room. For agri-science, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s agri-science campuses, including the National Plant Phenomics Centre at Aberystwyth University, received £30 million. For advanced materials, a total of £73 million was designated, consisting of £45 million for advanced materials research facilities and equipment and £28 million for the expansion of the National Composites Centre at the Bristol and Bath Science Park. For energy, £30 million was allocated to build R&D facilities for grid-scale storage technologies. Additional investments included £35 million for research campuses, £25 million for an advanced metrology lab at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, and £50 million for transformative equipment and infrastructure.

Source: UK Department for Business Innovation & Skills