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The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

Status: Closed Opened: 1 Feb 2021 Closed: 28 Jun 2021 9 recommendations 12 conclusions 1 report

The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) awards support for research and development projects under the four themes of the government’s Industrial Strategy: clean growth, the ageing society, the future of mobility and artificial intelligence & the data economy. It constitutes a significant part of a government commitment to spend £4.7 billion on research and development … Show more

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Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Fifty-Sixth Report - Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund HC 941 30 Apr 2021 21 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items
9 Conclusion Fifty-Sixth Report - Industrial Strateg… Rejected

The government has a target to increase the UK’s public and private investment in R&D...

The government has a target to increase the UK’s public and private investment in R&D to 2.4% of gross domestic product by 2027. The Fund contributes to this target.24 In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available, the UK invested 1.7% of its gross domestic product in … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government explicitly rejects the implied recommendation to aim above the 2.4% GDP target for R&D investment. They reaffirm their commitment to achieving the 2.4% target by 2027 through increased public investment and a forthcoming innovation strategy to leverage private sector funds.
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HM Treasury
10 Recommendation Fifty-Sixth Report - Industrial Strateg… Rejected

In 2019, the Department announced that to achieve government’s target of 2.4% both public and...

In 2019, the Department announced that to achieve government’s target of 2.4% both public and private R&D investment would need to rise to around £60 billion.26We asked witnesses how, and by when, it was going to increase funding to meet the target. The Department told us that it hoped to … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation to detail how and when funding will increase to meet the 2.4% R&D target, stating it has already committed to raising public investment and is developing an innovation strategy, with further plans to be set out in Spending Review …
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HM Treasury
11 Conclusion Fifty-Sixth Report - Industrial Strateg… Rejected

UKRI considered that meeting the target as very challenging but also described it as plausible...

UKRI considered that meeting the target as very challenging but also described it as plausible if it could, for example, maintain the momentum the Fund had generated around private investment. It asserted that having an ambitious target was important “otherwise, one won’t even meet unambitious targets, let along ambitious ones”.30 … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the Committee's implied concern regarding the feasibility of the R&D spending target, stating its commitment to increasing R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP and outlining ongoing efforts, including a forthcoming innovation strategy, to achieve this goal.
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HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
4 Mar 2021 Jo Shanmugalingam · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser DBE FRS · UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Sarah Munby · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy View ↗

Who gave evidence

3 witnesses
WitnessOrganisationSessions
Jo Shanmugalingam · Director General, Industrial Strategy, Science & … Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 1
Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser DBE FRS · Chief Executive UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) 1
Sarah Munby · Permanent Secretary Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 1

Correspondence

3 letters
DateDirectionTitle
23 Nov 2021 — Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, …
10 Sep 2021 — Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Department…
22 Mar 2021 — Correspondence from Sarah Munby, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, …