Science 'personal priority' for Osborne

In delivering his Autumn Statement to Parliament today Osborne stated that science was ‘a personal priority’ and a key driver for economic growth.

Osborne said £5.9bn of investment will continue in science, including £235m for the creation of the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Material Science in Manchester, with branches in Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield; plus a further £61m allocated to the High Value Manufacturing Catapult to help around 2,250 manufacturers create technologies and products in areas including robotics, printable electronics and carbon fibre composites.

Around £95m will be made available for the UK’s involvement in the next European mission to Mars, and £28m is being made available to create the National Formulation centre which will specialise in formulated products such as medicines and chemicals.

‘In 2010, the UK was ranked fourteenth in the Global Innovation Index. Today we are ranked second. But we aim to be the best,’ Osborne said.