Record research and development funding of almost £14 billion is being made to help back more UK innovators, like those developing treatment-transforming dementia tests, or building world-leading facilities to power a greener planet.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has today set out how it will allocate a total of £13.9bn in funding for innovative research and development in the next year in sectors like life sciences, green energy, space, and beyond.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in particular, which is the UK’s lead public research funder, will receive £8.8 billion over the next year.

UKRI R&D funding has proven key for developing the technologies we need to help position the UK as a clean energy superpower, such as the £86 million in ongoing funding towards building an advanced wind turbine test facility in Blyth.

When it comes to life sciences, public R&D funding delivered via UKRI is also supporting teams like the one at University of Plymouth who are tackling the serious issue of antimicrobial resistance, where bacteria evolve to resist the medicines that once killed them.

Their discovery of a new antibiotic, Epidermicin, is undergoing trials and has led to spinout company, Amprologix—potentially providing health professionals with a silver bullet in the battle against such bacterial infections, dubbed “superbugs,” whilst opening up new commercial opportunities in the UK.

With this funding boost, the government is also investing in agencies and organisations such as the UK Space Agency to help develop the space industry in the UK, and the Met Office, who provides the UK’s most advanced climate modelling.

The allocation of the record £13.9 billion in funding follows the Chancellor’s announcement at the Budget that the government would protect record levels of R&D spending.

The government stated that each pound of public R&D investment is also estimated to leverage double in private investment in the long run, and that businesses which receive their first R&D grant funding also see jobs and turnover go up by over 20% in the following six years.

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Speaking on the funding, science and technology secretary Peter Kyle remarked: “Our £13.9 billion investment in R&D is ultimately an investment in the future of the UK.”

“R&D is essential to fulfilling this government’s Plan for Change – whether in improving lives across the UK and beyond through new life-saving drugs, helping us build a cleaner, greener future or in exploring beyond our planet to unlock new discoveries that keep us healthy, safe and prosperous and much more besides.

“It is also central to creating highly paid jobs and opportunities to set up new businesses across the UK, which will drive the economic growth that is key to supporting our public services and enhancing our daily lives.”