LONDON – The UK government plans to set up a new agency to support the development of new technologies.
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced on Friday that the Advanced Research and Invention Agency will fund “high-risk, high-reward” scientific research in hopes of achieving “innovative” discoveries. It is expected to be fully operational next year.
He said the agency will be given £ 800 million ($ 1.1 billion) to help the “most inspiring inventors” over the next four years, which is a relatively small amount compared to other government research agencies, such as UK Research and Innovation.
The UK government’s R&D budget for 2020-2021 alone is £ 10.36 million.
ARIA will operate independently of the government and will be led by visionary researchers, the government said, adding that it will seek a CEO and interim president in the coming weeks.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said in a statement: “From the steam engine to the latest artificial intelligence technologies, the UK is steeped in scientific discoveries. The set of challenges today, already be they disease outbreaks or climate change, they need bold, ambitious and innovative solutions. “
He added: “By removing unnecessary administrative paperwork and putting power in the hands of our innovators, the agency will have the freedom to take the technologies of tomorrow forward as we continue to recover better through innovation.”
Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said in a statement that the importance of scientific innovation has been made clear over the past year, adding that ARIA provides a “new and interesting funding mechanism”.
Dominic Cummings, a former senior adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, liked the idea of trying to create a British version of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, formerly known as ARPA.
According to the Financial Times, Cummings’ WhatsApp manager still says, “Do Brexit, then Harp.” However, the newspaper claims he is not in the running to be the agency’s CEO, and cites government officials familiar with the matter.
Calls for “clarification of mandate and mission”
The opposition Labor Party has said the government should provide more details on ARIA.
Shadow Business and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said via Twitter that the government must “clarify the mandate and mission” of the new agency and address the “broader funding crisis” facing researchers .
“It’s not entirely clear what ARIA will really do, especially because of its modest budget,” said Jon Crowcroft, a professor of computer science at Cambridge University.
The launch of ARIA comes to light in the new fund of the European Innovation Council, which amounts to 12 billion dollars. The EIC was created by the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, to try to help emerging companies across Europe scale and compete with rivals in the United States and Asia, which have spawned several market-capitalized technology giants. entering very hundreds of billions of dollars.