New plans to boost private sector investment in innovation have been set by the government in a new innovation strategy.

The plan, launched by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on Thursday, aims to increase private investment in research and development (R&D) across the UK to “create the right conditions for all businesses to innovate.”

The government has committed to increase annual public investment on R&D to £22 billion.

But it said that the private sector also plays a key role in boosting R&D spending, which it added was key to achieving important domestic priorities like tackling climate change and boosting productivity, to levelling up opportunities across the UK.

The strategy aims to:

• increase annual public investment on R&D to a record £22 billion
• ensure government procurement is proactive and supportive, providing a route to market for innovative new products and services
• consult on how regulation can ensure that the UK is well-placed to extract the best value from innovation
• commission the Regulatory Horizons Council to consider how best to support innovation through regulation, including looking whether there are a set of high-level guiding principles for regulation that may apply broadly to any sector of innovation
• introduce new High Potential Individual and Scale-up visa routes, and revitalise the Innovator route to attract and retain high-skilled, globally mobile innovation talent
• undertake an independent review to assess landscape of UK organisations undertaking all forms of research, development and innovation
• reduce complexity for innovative companies by developing an online finance and innovation hub between Innovate UK and the British Business Bank within the next 12 months
• expand IP education programme for researchers and launch International IP Services to bolster innovative companies’ and researchers’ ability to confidently collaborate, export and invest overseas
• publish a new action plan on ‘Standards for the Fourth Industrial Revolution’, promoting standards that enable innovation to flourish
• invest £200 million through the British Business Bank’s Life Sciences Investment Programme to target the growth-stage funding gap faced by UK life science companies
• support 30,000 senior managers of small and medium sized businesses through Help to Grow: Management to boost their business’s performance, resilience, and long-term growth

“The UK can look back on a proud history of changing the world through innovation,” said Kwasi Kwarteng, UK business secretary. “From the industrial revolution to the vaccine development of the past year, the impact on our everyday lives is undeniable.”
Kwarteng added: “That spirit of discovery is still alive in this country today, but we have not always turned our genius for innovation into jobs and companies here in Britain.”

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