UK IT industry gets £24 million boost
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A new £24m programme to support the UK's computer and information technology industry was announced by E-commerce Minister Douglas Alexander today.
A new LINK Information Storage and Display programme will reportedly fund a range of collaborative projects between companies and universities.
It will help the UK-based companies exploit a global market, which could reach more than £100 billion by the end of the decade.There is a rapid growth in demand for flat panel displays and high capacity data storage is a market already worth £50 billion.
Half of the £24m is being provided jointly by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with matching funding coming from the industry.
The LINK scheme is the government's principal mechanism for promoting partnership in pre-competitive research between industry and the research base.
The new Information Storage and Displays Programme will support collaboration between industry (especially SMEs) and academia on projects involving the development and application of these technologies, and promote their novel use in a wide variety of sectors.
