Last week's poll: New Prosperity Partnerships aim to boost industry-focused UK research

To recap, Prosperity Partnerships are five-year projects to investigate topics of national and global importance. They are co-funded by government and industry, with the research areas identified by business and undertaken in collaboration with universities.

EPSRC is investing £20.4m in the scheme, while industry partners are putting in £16.8m and universities are contributing £4.9m. Partners from industry include Akzo Nobel, AstraZeneca, Oxford Photovoltaics, Google, Rolls-Royce, Tata Steel and Weir Group.

The first round of projects - covering topics including electromagnetic and acoustic materials, photonics, offshore wind energy – were announced in 2017 and are now said to be attracting additional foreign investment.

The seven new projects will look at areas including a new virtual factory approach to steel production, new materials for solar panels, sustainable coatings and paints, and bio catalysts for the production of medicines. They represent a way of stimulating and directing basic research towards industry requirements, which hasn’t always proven successful, prompting The Engineer to ask if this approach will be more successful than others, and whether the right subjects are being tackled.