UKRI is inviting local leaders to bid for up to £20 million each to grow regional innovation. Britain has finally given every promising area a chance to explain its future using the official format of a hopeful spreadsheet with an attachment limit.
UKRI funding asks the regions to apply
The Local Innovation Partnerships Fund invites regional partnerships to seek support for science and technology projects. The government says successful areas can build on existing strengths, from advanced manufacturing to life sciences and digital technology.
This is a useful idea. Local leaders know their regions. They know which laboratory needs a bus route, which workshop needs a roof and which excellent invention has been waiting for a meeting to discover that it is excellent.
The competition has two stages. First comes an expression of interest. Then shortlisted partnerships work with UKRI on fuller proposals. It is a process designed to identify strong ideas while giving every strong idea a brief chance to become twelve documents in a zip file.
UKRI funding discovers a local clipboard
Each selected place could receive up to £20 million. That is real money for research and innovation. It may help regions turn expertise into jobs and useful products. It may also create the first clipboard to require a delivery strategy, an impact plan and a small ceremonial lanyard.
The fund sits within the government’s wider research and development settlement. Ministers want science investment to support growth across the country. The ambition is welcome. The joke is that a brilliant local engineer must still prove their postcode has attended the correct webinar.
UKRI funding cannot make a partnership appear by magic. It can give one a reason to gather around a table, point at a map and agree that the future will be transformative once somebody has found the upload button.
