WIREDGOV

Ambitious delivery plans published yesterday outline how UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which includes STFC, will work with its partners to ensure that world-leading research and innovation continues to flourish in the UK. 

The Delivery Plans 2019 highlight the areas of focus and key activities of UKRI’s nine constituent councils and its cross-cutting themes.

STFC’s new Delivery Plan highlights our ambitions to:

• Fully engage with new frontier science opportunities and drive the development of novel technologies;
• Use our inspiring high-tech facilities, in the UK and overseas, as a training ground for skills in engineering, technology and computing for the UK;
• Create a strategic pipeline for developing our world-leading National Facilities and to keep them world class;
• Continue to develop the research and innovation ecosystem at our Harwell and Daresbury Campuses; and
• Strengthen our strategic partnerships across UKRI and externally.

STFC’s Executive Chair Professor Mark Thomson yesterday said of the new STFC Delivery Plan:

“The creation of UKRI provides an important opportunity for the UK to consolidate and build on its existing strengths as a leading research nation and to support the government’s ambition for the UK to become the most innovative country in the world. The STFC delivery plan sets out our longer-term ambitions together with the shorter-term actions we will take to deliver our strategy as part of UKRI.”

The plans also detail UKRI’s approach to delivering the government’s target of 2.4 per cent GDP spend on research and innovation by 2027, as part of its modern Industrial Strategy backing businesses to create high-paid, highly-skilled jobs in every part of the UK.

UK Research and Innovation Chief Executive, Professor Sir Mark Walport, yesterday said:

“The delivery plans announced today are the blueprints for UKRI’s ambition to deliver the future of research and innovation. They outline how we will address the major global and societal challenges of our time, catalyse collaboration and contribute to meeting the government’s ambitious 2.4% target.”