The tech secretary has unveiled a £60m funding vehicle, dubbed the Regional Innovation Fund, aimed at boosting research and development (R&D) in the UK.
Announced by Michelle Donelan, the Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) will target universities in areas with lower levels of R&D output, with the wider goal of boosting both the local economies and the British standard of science and technology research.
The distribution of the RIF has been designed to be relative to the size of each nation in the UK, with £48.8m designated for 110 universities across England, £5.8m for Scotland, £3.4m for Wales and £2m for Northern Ireland.
The RIF was announced alongside £8m of funding towards 800 AI scholarships that aim to increase the country’s supply of AI-educated people as the country seeks a leading position in the sector.
‘Creeping wokeism’
Donelan, speaking at the Conservative Party conference yesterday, also commented on what she described as the “creeping wokeism” in scientific research.
“We are the party of facts, we are the party of evidence, we are the party of scientific rigour, and I will stand up for these core values. But increasingly, thanks to the slow creep of wokeism, this guiding light that Thatcher referred to is under attack,” Donelan said.
The tech secretary therefore unveiled alongside the new RIF, a review into sex and gender data and how it affects research and policy.
Donelan added: “Keir Starmer has said that these issues don’t matter to the public. He thinks that the legitimate concerns of the scientific community and of millions of Britons don’t matter. Well conference, I think it does matter.”
UKTN has reached out to the tech secretary for further comment.
Several Conservative ministers attending the party conference have come under fire for making unsubstantiated claims. Claire Coutinho, the energy secretary, claimed in her speech that Labour had proposed “taxing meat”, but was unable to point to a policy when challenged.
Mark Harper, the transport secretary, repeated a conspiracy theory that councils are planning to ration when people can go to the shops.