Boris Johnson’s government has announced that it won’t be pushing forward with plans to create a new technology funding agency that’s independent of the current commercialisation agency Innovate Uk.
Science Business reported that the proposal, which was laid out in the Conservative manifesto ahead of the December General Election, has been replaced by a less specific commitment to “back […] a new approach to funding high-risk, high-payoff research in emerging fields of research and technology” in the legislative agenda set out by Mr Johnson recently.
According to the news provider, one of the reasons why the proposal has been dropped for the time being is due to the “muted reaction” to the plans from UK scientists.
One proposal that has remained in the government’s legislative agenda is the commitment to increase research and development (R&D) spending to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027.
The government has also revealed that it intends to remove the cap on the number of tier 1 ‘exceptional talent’ visas that are granted post-Brexit. It has also said that the partners of researchers won’t need to have a job offer before they move to the UK.
However, there are some concerns that the government’s time restrictions on agreeing a trade deal with the EU could mean that arrangements for an EU-UK science collaboration aren’t included in the initial trade deal.
There is some good news for the country’s life sciences sector though. Last month, European Pharmaceutical Review revealed that the UK is the leader in Europe when it comes to early-stage clinical research.
The report from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry found that there were more than 600 commercial clinical trials taking place in the NHS.
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