The UK government has announced the establishment of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) as an independent body.

The agency was established to fund ‘high-risk and high-reward scientific research as part of the government’s promise to bolster R&D.’

Designed with what the UK Government describes as ‘unique level of freedom’, the agency puts trust in the decisions of experts in their field, empowering them to quickly allocate funding in support of their research aims.

Hoping to create transformational research programmes with the potential to create new technological capabilities for the benefit of humanity, the agency is key part of the government’s plans for innovation.

UK Science Minister George Freeman said: “The UK has long been a leading light in scientific discovery research and pioneering technology: from the invention of the steam engine and discovery of DNA to the first computer and Formula 1 telemetry.”

He also announced that £39.8 billion would be committed to the R&D budget.

“Transformational discoveries come from world class scientists and labs with the freedom to explore the unknown. We have set up ARIA as an £800 million global super lab to do just that through frontier science and technology,” he said.

Dr. Ilan Gur, the founding CEO, and Matt Clifford MBE, the ARIA Chair, demonstrate the UK’s ability to attract global scientific and entrepreneurial talent as well as the continuing strength of the UK’s research base.

Five more board members were also announced, including Sarah Hunter, a public policy expert who has worked across Silicon Valley and London, who is the Global Director of Public Policy at X, the Moonshot Factory.

Other appointments include: Stephen Cohen, a UK Civil Service Commissioner, Professor Sir David MacMillian, a Nobel Prize winning chemist, and Dame Kate Bingham (DBE), former chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce.

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Antonia Jenkinson was also appointed at Chief Financial and Operations Officer – she was CFO at the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

The group combines unique experiences from across the science, technology, and investment sectors, ensuring ARIA invests in the high-risk research that offers the best change of high rewards, supporting ground-breaking discovers with the potential to transform people’s lives.

“Guided by their experience and judgement, ARIA will make bold bets that leverage the strengths of the UK research system to drive world-changing breakthroughs,” Dr. Ilan Gur said.

The creation of the ARIA buildings on the funding announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement and hopes to cement the UK’s position as a global science superpower.

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