LONDON – The British 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 making ‘groundbreaking’ discoveries. It will be fully operational next year.
The agency is said to 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 UK Research and Innovation.
The UK Government’s R & D budget for 2020-2021 is £ 10.36 billion.
ARIA will function independently of the government and be led by visionary researchers, the government said, adding that it will look for an interim chief executive and chairman in the coming weeks.
Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng said in a statement: “From the steam engine to the latest artificial intelligence technologies, the United Kingdom is riddled with scientific discovery. ambitious and innovative solutions needed. “
He added: “By pulling back unnecessary red tape and placing power in the hands of our innovators, the agency will have the freedom to pursue the technologies of tomorrow as we continue to build better through innovation. “
Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said in a statement that the importance of scientific innovation had been made clear in recent years, adding that ARIA provided an ‘exciting new funding mechanism’.
Dominic Cummings, a former senior adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, likes the idea of trying to create a British version of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, formerly known as ARPA.
According to the Financial Times, Cummings’ WhatsApp handle still reads: “Get Brexit Done, then Arpa.” However, the newspaper stated that he did not want to be the chief executive of the agency, citing government officials familiar with the matter.
Calls to ‘clarify the mandate and mission’
The opposition Labor Party said the government should provide more details on ARIA.
Shad Million Business and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said via Twitter that the government should clarify the mandate and mission of the new agency and address the ‘broader funding crisis’ facing researchers.
“It’s not entirely clear what ARIA is really going to do, especially given its modest budget,” said Jon Crowcroft, a professor of computer science at the University of Cambridge.
ARIA’s launch comes on the heels of the new fund of the European Innovation Council, which stands at $ 12 billion. The EIC was set up by the European Commission, the EU’s executive, to help start-ups across Europe expand and compete with competitors in the US and Asia, which has set up several technology giants with market capitalizations. hundreds of billions of dollars.