Covering a wide range of innovative sectors including healthcare, cyber security, construction and clean energy, the projects will also tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the UK today. The full list of projects is detailed here.
The 17 consortia are spread across the UK and include central and southern Scotland, south Wales, Northern Ireland, England’s north-west, north-east, south-east, south-west and the Midlands. Their projects will build on local strengths in industry and research to create significant economic impact, drive local growth, provide skills training and create high-value jobs.
This follows UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) announcement on 26 June 2020 of £186 million for seven R&D projects that will boost economic growth in their local areas.
The 17 new consortia will receive up to £50k each to develop full-stage bids for funding similar projects.
Each of the shortlisted projects has been awarded early-stage funding from the second wave of UKRI’s flagship Strength in Places Fund (SIPF). This funding will allow the consortia behind the projects, which involve universities, research organisations, businesses and local leadership, to develop their projects and apply for a further £10-50 million each from UKRI later this year.
Business Secretary, Alok Sharma, said: "We are backing our innovators and with the support they need to turn great ideas into first-class industries, products and technologies.
"From virtual construction projects to extracting clean heat from disused mines, the pioneering projects we are funding today will help create jobs and boost skills across the UK as we continue to drive forward our economic recovery."
UKRI Strength in Places Fund lead, David Sweeney, said: "Strength in Places is a flagship fund for UKRI. We welcome the focus of the UK Government’s R&D Roadmap in unlocking economic opportunities around local economy in more places around the UK.
"I am delighted with the range of bids funded across the UK in the second wave of Strength in Places that will foster the local ecosystems to support innovation and sustained growth and strengthen collaboration between industry and our world-class research base."
Strength in Places Fund panel chair, Dame Kate Barker, said: "I am privileged to continue to chair the Strength in Places Fund independent expert panel, as invited by UK Research and Innovation. After considering a large number of expressions of interest from across the regions and nations of the UK, the panel was pleased to recommend a strong set of bids for early-stage funding.
"The bids provide further evidence of excellent research that meets business needs across the whole of the UK. They demonstrate great potential for industrial collaboration by bringing together consortia of business, research organisations and local leadership organisations to contribute to increased growth and productivity in areas of local economic activity."
Announced in the modern Industrial Strategy in November 2017, the £236 million SIPF benefits all nations and regions of the UK by enabling them to tap into the world-class research and innovation capability that is spread right across the country.
It is a key part of how UKRI, the UK’s research and innovation funding agency, has responded to the importance of ‘place’ as part of the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda and directs its investment to create real, lasting impact.
A cross-council UKRI scheme, SIPF is primarily delivered by Research England and Innovate UK in partnership with the higher education funding bodies of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and the Office for Students.