LONDON – The UK government is planning to create 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 Inventions Agency will fund “high-risk, high-reward” scientific research in the hope of achieving “innovative” discoveries. It should be fully operational next year.
He said the agency will receive £ 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 the UK Research and Innovation.
The UK government’s R&D budget for 2020-2021 alone is £ 10.36 billion.
ARIA will operate independently of the government and will be led by visionary researchers, the government said, adding that it will seek an interim CEO and a chair 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. Today’s set of challenges – be it disease outbreaks or climate change – needs bold, ambitious and innovative solutions. “
He added: “By eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy and putting power in the hands of our innovators, the agency will have the freedom to drive tomorrow’s technologies as we continue to rebuild better through innovation.”
Patrick Vallance, the government’s top scientific adviser, said in a statement that the importance of scientific innovation became clear last year, adding that ARIA provides a “new stimulating funding mechanism”.
Dominic Cummings, a former senior adviser to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, liked the idea of trying to create a British version of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which used to be called ARPA.
According to the Financial Times, Cummings’ WhatsApp identifier still says, “Do Brexit, then Arpa.” However, the newspaper says he is not running to be the agency’s CEO, citing government officials familiar with the matter.
Calls to ‘clarify the mandate and mission’
The opposition Labor Party said the government needs to provide more details about the ARIA.
Shadow Business and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said via Twitter that the government must “clarify the new agency’s mandate and mission” and deal with the “broader funding crisis” that researchers face.
“It is not entirely clear what ARIA will really do, especially considering its modest budget,” said Jon Crowcroft, professor of computer science at Cambridge University.
The launch of ARIA comes just after the new fund of the European Innovation Council, which totals US $ 12 billion. The EIC was created by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, to try to help start-ups across Europe to expand and compete with rivals in the US and Asia, who have spawned a number of well-functioning market capitalized technology giants in hundreds of billions of dollars.