British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves will allocate £86 billion ($116 billion) to research and development as part of this week’s comprehensive spending review, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced on Sunday.
The investment package will support a wide range of initiatives from pioneering drug treatments and next-generation batteries to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.
According to the DSIT, annual funding for R&D will grow to more than £22.5 billion by the 2029/30 fiscal year, with the goal of fostering innovation, job creation, and long-term economic growth.
On Wednesday, Reeves is set to distribute over £2 trillion ($2.7 trillion) in public funds among government departments, a critical moment that will shape the trajectory of the Labour government, now in its second year, over the next four years.
This latest R&D announcement follows Reeves’ recent pledge of £15.6 billion in government investment for local transport upgrades in key city regions across Northern England, the Midlands, and the South West underscoring a broader strategy to modernise infrastructure and boost regional economies.
