Tag: Department for Science Innovation and Technology

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 2 June 2025.

More than 20,000 civil servants took part in a government-led trial using generative AI to support their daily work – with early results showing time savings equivalent to nearly 2 working weeks per person, per year.

AI can significantly reduce time spent on government tasks – freeing up time, capacity and boosting productivity, with a landmark trial of 20,000 civil servants showing they could save nearly 2 weeks each annually by using the technology.

This is the equivalent of giving 1,130 people a full year back – every year – to focus on higher-value tasks, innovation or public service impact, rather than admin-based work – with the potential for this to rise significantly if used across the entire civil service, transforming productivity and public service delivery at scale.

The findings show the use of AI across the Civil Service will directly support the government’s Plan for Change by driving innovation, fostering economic growth, and modernising how public services operate.

The trial found that using generative AI such as Microsoft 365 Copilot to assist with everyday tasks – including drafting documents, summarising lengthy emails, updating records, and preparing reports – saved users an average of 26 minutes per day. That adds to nearly 2 weeks of time saved per year per person, delivering a significant productivity boost when scaled across the public workforce.

At Companies House, staff use Copilot to handle routine customer queries and speed up tasks like drafting responses and updating records. At the Department for Work and Pensions, work coaches are using it to personalise advice for jobseekers – helping them get faster, more tailored support.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle highlighted the findings in a keynote discussion at SXSW London today, where he joined former Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss reimagining government and public service delivery in the age of AI.

Commenting on the results he said:

These findings show that AI isn’t just a future promise – it’s a present reality. Whether it’s helping draft documents, preparing lesson plans, or cutting down on routine admin, AI tools are saving civil servants time every day. That means we can focus more on delivering faster, more personalised support where it really counts.

As we deliver our Plan for Change, we’re backing innovation like this to boost productivity and growth – not just in the private sector, but in public services too. AI is changing the way government operates, helping us work smarter, reduce red tape, and make better use of taxpayers’ money.

Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK said:

AI is the most transformative technology of our time and we’re already seeing its potential to reshape public service delivery. Whether that’s DWP work coaches helping more jobseekers into work, local authorities improving social care for the most vulnerable in society or NHS clinicians with more time to see patients, the potential is profound.

As a strategic technology partner to the UK government, we have an amazing opportunity to help improve both the quality of the services people receive and the way they access them. This could unlock new levels of growth, efficiency, and innovation for the country.

The government’s Microsoft 365 Copilot experiment shows what’s possible when people are empowered with the right tools: 26 mins per day (almost 2 weeks per year) less time on admin, more time delivering what matters. And the really exciting part is, this is just the beginning.

A DWP Work Coach involved in the trial said:

Using Copilot, I was able to help a self-employed customer – Customer X – revitalise her small business. Together, we created tailored social media posts to boost her online presence and used AI to identify cost-saving opportunities. Within a week, she’d secured 7 new client bookings. She’s now using Copilot to streamline admin and manage bookings – freeing up time to grow her business. It’s a powerful example of how AI can deliver real results for the people we support.

Complementing these findings, research from the Alan Turing Institute published today finds that AI could support up to 41% of tasks across the public sector, offering significant time savings. In schools, for example, teachers spend nearly 100 minutes a day on lesson planning – up to 75% of which could be supported by AI, freeing more time for the classroom. Civil servants spend around 30 minutes daily on emails, where AI could cut this effort by over 70%. From drafting documents to updating records, the research shows AI is well-placed to handle routine admin – supporting public servants across departments.

This forms part of the government’s broader effort to modernise the state and achieve £45 billion in savings by making public services faster, simpler, and more accessible—across health, education, and beyond – while rolling out digital tools like the GOV.UK App, Chat, and Wallet, and tackling outdated legacy systems that currently cost billions in lost productivity.

Notes to editors

Figures are derived from self-reported daily time savings provided by participants, averaged across the full cohort of 20,000 individuals.

The £45 billion figure is composed of 3 main levers:

1. Simplify and automate delivery across public sector (£36 billion)
2. Migrate service processing to cheaper online channels (£4billion)
3. Reduce fraud and error with digital compliance solutions (£6 billion)

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 28 May 2025.

Tourists and hikers exploring the UK’s most renowned beauty spots and national parks can now benefit from a huge boost in mobile coverage, helping them plan routes and receive live weather updates for safer outdoor adventures.

Tourists and hikers exploring the UK’s most renowned beauty spots and national parks can now benefit from a huge boost in mobile coverage, helping them plan routes and receive live weather updates for safer outdoor adventures.

Over 50 mobile masts, initially only used to connect EE customers and those calling 999, have now been upgraded to provide coverage from all mobile network operators. The upgrade of existing masts will limit the visual and natural impact on the environment, causing less disruption to the surrounding areas.

These masts cover a footprint equivalent to the size of 66,470 football pitches, and over half of them are providing new coverage to areas of outstanding natural beauty or national parks.

The upgrades will benefit thousands of local residents and many more visiting the surrounding areas, bringing fast and reliable 4G networks to remote communities previously plagued by poor signal. This will support local tourism and economic growth, the core mission of the Government’s Plan for Change.

The rollout is part of the Shared Rural Network programme led by the UK Government and mobile network operators to improve connectivity in rural communities across Britain.

Areas set to benefit from the boost include the North York Moors National Park, parts of the Southern Upland Way, and the Shropshire Hills.

Telecoms Minister Sir Chris Bryant said:

The growth potential of our areas of outstanding natural beauty must not be stunted by patchy internet.

This milestone is a major step forward for better connectivity for all corners of the UK meaning everyone can reap the benefits of the digital age. From boosting tourism and business opportunities to providing safer outdoors experiences for visitors to our treasured countryside.

These upgrades mark significant progress in the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost economic growth across the UK, as outlined in the Plan for Change. To expand coverage even further, 50 more government funded sites in England, Wales and Scotland are also being targeted for upgrades by March 2026.

Ben Roome, CEO of Mova said:

This is a big milestone for rural mobile coverage. Thanks to strong collaboration between government and industry, 50 publicly funded masts are now live — including this one in Upper Chapel — helping to close the mobile coverage gap for residents, businesses and visitors.

These masts build on the success of the mobile operators hitting their industry-funded targets a year early. Since the Shared Rural Network began, coverage from all four operators has grown from 66% to 81% of the UK — an increase the size of Wales and Northern Ireland combined.

With further sites being upgraded and built over the next two years, more people in rural areas will benefit from better mobile coverage.

The press release issued by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology on 27 May 2025.

Building on the UK’s new deal with the EU, plans launched to supercharge AI collaboration across Europe.

Healthcare treatments, clean energy technologies and advanced breakthroughs that could transform lives across the UK are within reach, as the government backs plans for a new AI collaboration with Europe – driving growth and delivering on the government’s Plan for Change.

From today, public research organisations can apply to host the UK’s AI Factory Antenna – a facility that, if approved, would link British research expertise to its advanced supercomputers across Europe.

Access to cutting-edge compute power – the high-performance processing capability needed to handle vast data and complex models – is the engine of progress in AI. Greater collaboration will help address global challenges like climate change and disease, support the development of advanced AI systems used in healthcare and energy, and drive economic growth – the government’s core mission under the Plan for Change. That is why expanding international collaboration on compute is a key recommendation of the UK government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan – a blueprint to accelerate the use of AI across the economy.

Today’s announcement follows the new UK-EU agreement, secured by the Prime Minister earlier this month, which will boost British jobs, help businesses thrive, and put money back in people’s pockets. It underlines the UK’s renewed partnership with Europe – delivering real opportunities, driving economic growth, and building stronger relationships in the national interest.

Minister for AI, Feryal Clark, said:

Supercomputers are the turbo-chargers of discovery. By strengthening our partnership with Europe, we’re giving British innovators the compute power to solve climate and health challenges, grow the economy, and deliver our Plan for Change.

This is about more than faster processing – it’s about putting the UK at the forefront of global AI. With access to some of Europe’s most advanced systems, our researchers and startups will be equipped to lead on cutting-edge breakthroughs and strengthen Britain’s role as a trusted partner in international AI development.

This expression of interest, open to individual public research organisations or consortia, will identify the UK’s government-backed bid to apply to EuroHPC’s call – with up to €5 million available.

If successful, the chosen organisation will become the UK’s AI Factory Antenna, acting as the gateway to top European supercomputers through a partnership with an AI Factory on the continent – a site combining EuroHPC compute with access to data, training and software support.

This will enable UK scientists, startups and public institutions to build larger, more complex AI models – shortening development cycles, accelerating innovation, and creating high-skilled jobs across the country.

The programme builds on the UK’s growing momentum in compute infrastructure, with £44 billion invested in data centres since July last year, and forms part of wider efforts to ensure the UK has the compute needed to thrive in the age of AI.

This summer, the government will confirm the next sites for AI Growth Zones – specialist clusters designed to host AI infrastructure, unlock billions in private investment, and create thousands of skilled jobs. These actions will be underpinned by the Compute Strategy, a ten-year roadmap to increase national compute capacity twenty-fold, due later this year.

Notes to editors

The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is an EU-led initiative that pools resources from the EU and participating countries to develop European computing infrastructure and research capabilities. It brings together world-class supercomputing systems from 35 countries, including all 27 EU member states, Norway and Turkey, to drive the next generation of computing technologies.

The UK joined the EuroHPC JU in May 2024, giving UK researchers free access to EuroHPC’s supercomputers via the UK’s association to Horizon Europe.

The Expression of Interest (EOI) launched today invites eligible UK public research organisations or consortia to apply to host the UK’s AI Factory Antenna. If successful, the host organisation will form a partnership with an EU-based AI Factory – a site that combines EuroHPC compute with access to data, training and software support for AI development.

Applications must be submitted by Wednesday 11 June. The EOI process will identify a single organisation or consortium to be endorsed by the UK government for submission to EuroHPC’s call for AI Factory Antennae. The UK government is allocating up to £2.5 million in funding, which will be matched by the EU if the application is successful.

This is part of a broader effort by the UK government to expand collaboration with the EuroHPC JU –  a recommendation of the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan. Earlier this year, the government also committed to match-fund upcoming EuroHPC research grants for UK researchers and businesses.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 24 May 2025.

Researchers in Exeter have today (Saturday 24 May) been selected to host a state-of-the-art facility developing new materials designed at microscopic scale.

Researchers in Exeter have today (Saturday 24 May) been selected to host a state-of-the-art facility developing new materials designed at microscopic scale – paving the way for new jobs and businesses in everything from medical sensors to healthier food colourings in soft drinks.

The University of Exeter’s MetaHub will be supported by £19.6 million in public and private backing, announced by Science Minister Lord Vallance at the University.

The MetaHub is focused on ‘nanoscale metamaterials’ – a new class of advanced materials, designed at the tiniest, molecular level, so that they have new and useful properties that cannot be found in the natural world. This could enable components to be created that are much smaller than current technology allows, or that can perform new functions that aren’t possible with existing materials.

These new materials could be used to make the next generation of computer components and radio transmitters for defence systems, diagnostic tools for healthcare, and healthier food colourings for soft drinks. Their work is being backed by businesses ranging from defence and security firms QinetiQ and Leonardo to multinational drinks manufacturer PepsiCo.

This is a growing field, emerging from just a handful of groups doing such research, with the UK already leading the way. Investing now in the UK’s metamaterials expertise paves the way for the products of the future to be discovered and commercialised in Britain – with new jobs, businesses and even entire industries to potentially flow from them.

Delivering this growth in partnership with the private sector, £10.5 million of the total funding comes from UK Research and Innovation, with a further £4.5 million in private investment crowded in – showing the value of cutting-edge research as a driver of investment into all corners of the country, in support of the Plan for Change. A further £4.65 million comes from the University of Exeter and other higher education institutions.

Speaking at the University of Exeter, Science Minister Lord Vallance said:

The work happening here in Exeter is a prime example of how cutting-edge research can attract private investment and drive economic growth, in every corner of the UK, which will be critical to our economic mission at the core of the Plan for Change.

Our backing for the MetaHub is an investment, for both today and for tomorrow. We are securing the UK’s leadership in the high-potential field of metamaterials, a new class of materials specially engineered to have new and useful properties. This work is paving the way for future products and innovations that will deliver jobs and growth, in the years ahead.

At the University yesterday, Lord Vallance met researchers leading major new initiatives across climate change, critical minerals and human genomics which together with MetaHub represent £80 million of new public and private sector investment into Cornwall and Devon.

University of Exeter Deputy Vice-Chancellor Stuart Brocklehurst said:

Our world leading research across many of the hottest areas of science will both help address profound global challenges and create opportunity across the South West. It’s been great to welcome Lord Vallance to the University of Exeter to celebrate the work of our researchers and the investment which their work is attracting from public and private sources alike.

Professor Charlotte Deane, Executive Chair at EPSRC said:

We’ve nurtured metamaterials research for many years and it’s fantastic to see it grow from a few individual research groups in the 1990s to a rapidly expanding and thriving research community today.

By harnessing the control of light, energy and information, the MetaHub has the potential to benefit both civil and defence sectors. From more efficient, effective and secure computing and communication to advanced sensing and energy generation, this research will take curiosity-led research to tangible outcomes.

Whilst in Exeter, Lord Vallance also visited another hub for world-leading science and research which is based there: the Met Office. As the UK’s national weather forecasting service, the Met Office’s work is critical to the safe and routine operation of transport, energy, businesses and even national security – efforts bolstered by the switchover to the world’s first cloud-based supercomputer dedicated to weather and climate science, which went online last month. Lord

Vallance also saw how the Met Office is using technologies like AI, to overhaul how we study and understand weather and climate change.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 23 May 2025.

AI experts are experimenting to build new AI within “Humphrey” to help speed up admin in areas like planning and social care, as 25 councils trial new AI tech from Whitehall.

Local councils across the country are trialling a new AI tool called ‘Minute’ – part of the “Humphrey” suite being rolled out across Whitehall – to cut burdensome admin tasks to improve services for citizens as part of the UK government’s Plan for Change.

It comes as the Prime Minister brings together Heads of the devolved governments and elected English Mayors today at the Council of the Nations and Regions for talks on recent trade deals, as well as how AI can improve public services and maximise the technology’s benefits for people across UK. ‘Minute’ has been used to take notes in the meeting, marking the first time AI has been used in a meeting chaired by a UK Prime Minister.

25 local councils are currently taking part in the early-stage trial of ‘Minute’ to speed up note taking across the services they provide, including West Berkshire Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. This includes streamlining burdensome admin tasks in the planning process to help hit the government’s target of building 1.5 million homes by 2030.

This could help speed up actions after planning meetings, allowing officers to focus on the task at hand, rather than paperwork, and make informed decisions to get homes built. This will support approvals, so bricks can be laid and homes built faster.

The tool also helps take detailed notes in meetings between social care workers and their supervisors, allowing workers to focus on offering more support instead of being bogged down by bureaucracy.

The trial comes as alongside a push from government to help local councils use technology to improve the dozens of essential services they are responsible for delivering to local residents – from planning approvals to housing, pest control and parking permits. It includes a new AI Knowledge Hub published today, sharing exciting examples of how local councils are using technology so others can learn from them – such as an AI assistant that speeds up the reporting of fly-tipping and graffiti in central London.

‘Minute’ is part of ‘Humphrey’, the package of AI tools built to help civil servants deliver for ministers and the public more effectively. It uses generative AI to turn meetings into notes and adds unique tools to help tweak and correct summaries more efficiently. Early tests of the technology in central government showed that officials were saved, on average, from one hour of admin per one hour meeting, with nearly half of them saying note-taking is the least enjoyable part of their job.

In the pilot, the tool helps local councils automate requirements for note taking and record keeping so officials can focus on helping residents more quickly.

The trial announced today follows the Prime Minister setting out that he will “push forward with the digitisation of government services” to find £45 billion worth of productivity savings to make the state more productive and agile and deliver the Plan for Change.

AI and Digital Government Minister Feryal Clark said:

From parking permits and planning permission, local councils handle some of the services that impact our daily lives most. For too long, they have been left to fend for themselves when keeping up with rapid innovations in AI and digital technology – when we know it has huge potential to help solve many of the challenges they face.

That’s why “Humphrey”, a suite of exciting AI tools built in my department, is being sent to townhalls to help them fast track planning decisions, build 1.5 million homes and take meeting notes more quickly. This is just the first step as we are also going to work with local councils to help them buy and build the technology they need to deliver our Plan for Change and support their local communities more effectively.

Lords Minister for Housing and Local Government Baroness Taylor said:

Local councils are on the frontline of housing delivery, and we’re backing them with cutting-edge AI technology like ‘Minute’, so officers can spend less time buried in admin and more time helping to get Britain building.

This is alongside our landmark reforms to deliver 1.5 million homes, including the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which will get working people and families in to secure homes and boost economic growth right across the country.

Earlier this year, the government’s State of Digital Government Review unveiled that local councils were spending £5 billion per year on technology, despite employing half the number of digital specialists they should be. The report also found that each of the 320 local authorities negotiate technology contracts with big tech companies independently – when many are buying exactly the same tools – making this spending much less effective.

Work has also begun to look at how technology built by the UK government, like the upcoming GOV.UK App which will give people access to public services on their phones, can help councils save money while delivering a better, more consistent service for citizens. It will also aim to improve data sharing between councils and other public bodies, as well as helping councils negotiate contracts together and share best practices.

It comes alongside a new AI Knowledge Hub being published, sharing practical examples of how AI is being used in government and across local councils so other organisations across the UK can take their work forward. The publication of the website delivers against a recommendation made in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, aiming to help the public sector adopt AI more quickly and effectively.

Other areas set to be discussed today include how by working with devolved governments and mayors the UK can ensure it has the infrastructure and capability needed to power AI, and ways to facilitate better data sharing.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 22 May 2025.

Funding announced for new round of the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund.

New technologies, like drones for delivering vital supplies to smarter medical software using AI to help doctors spot diseases earlier, could reach the public faster through new funding to cut unnecessary red tape and keep pace with innovation (Thursday 22 May).

The Regulators’ Pioneer Fund supports regulators to trial new, more efficient ways of working that allow businesses to bring their innovations to market faster, in turn supporting the economic growth at the centre of our Plan for Change.

The launch of the fourth round – worth £5.5 million in total – builds on its previous phase, which supported 24 pioneering projects across the country unlocking new opportunities in sectors like health, transport, and energy.

Supported projects include exploring safer ways for drones to fly in the same skies as other aircraft – which could contribute £45 billion to the UK economy at its highest potential. These trials have laid the groundwork for future drone deliveries, and helped regulators keep up with new technologies while making sure people are protected and rules are clear and fair. Other projects include using realistic, computer-generated data to speed up results of clinical trials, which could in future help get new medical treatments out sooner.

The fourth round of Regulators’ Pioneer Fund is open to regulators and local authorities across the UK and will include projects in key growth areas such as AI in healthcare, engineering biology, space, and connected and autonomous vehicles. Projects might include smarter ways to test new treatments, manage the use of airspace for drones, or support technologies like lab-grown foods – helping ensure the rules are fit for purpose to bring innovations to market.

This latest round – delivered by the Regulatory Innovation Office – is now open to regulators and local authorities across the UK. It will support bold ideas that back some of the UK’s most promising growth sectors – including AI to support the NHS, engineered biology to improve food security, satellite tech to improve farming and climate tracking, and self-driving vehicles. It’s part of the government’s Plan for Change to make the UK the best place to test and grow new ideas, while making life better for the public.

Science Minister Lord Vallance said:

Smarter, more agile regulation is key to businesses bringing ideas to market faster, while giving the public confidence in new technologies.

These projects show how regulators can work with industry to unlock breakthroughs – from autonomous drones improving emergency services, to AI that cuts the cost and time spent on clinical trials.

By backing this kind of innovation, we’re helping to make the UK the best place in the world to launch, test and scale new ideas, and drive the economic growth we need to improve lives and deliver our Plan for Change.

Some of the innovative work delivered through the previous round (RPF3) includes:

• In Milton Keynes, funding helped local authorities trial drone deliveries for urgent medical supplies and environmental monitoring. This included exploring new ways such as carrying out low-risk test flights and sensors to track the drones’ path to safely test and approve these services – helping emergency responders and healthcare providers get what they need faster, while reducing emissions and traffic congestion. The project is also laying the foundations for a future UK-wide drone economy, predicted to be worth up to £45 billion by 2030.
• At the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), funding was used to explore the use of synthetic data in clinical trials – specifically through synthetic control arms, which use computer-generated data to replace some of the participants who would normally receive a placebo. This approach can make trials quicker, cheaper, and more inclusive, while still ensuring safety and effectiveness. Patients could benefit from faster access to new treatments, supporting efforts to improve health outcomes and reduce pressure on our NHS.
• The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) supported the aviation industry to reduce regulatory challenges on the safe introduction of hydrogen as an aviation fuel at a commercial scale and making progress towards bringing zero-emission flight to UK skies. Their work will position the UK as a global leader in sustainable aviation, supporting job creation and contributing to net zero goals.

All projects receive tailored support from the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO), which helps regulators coordinate efforts and safely trial new approaches.

Notes to editors

• The Regulators’ Pioneer Fund (RPF4) opens for bids on Thursday 22 May and will provide up to £5.5 million in total to new regulatory innovation projects.
• An independent evaluation by the National Centre for Social Research that has also been published today found that the third round of the Regulators Pioneer Fund (RPF) helped trial new approaches that would not have happened otherwise, embedding innovation more deeply within their organisations. It also strengthened collaboration between regulators and industry, laying the groundwork for more open, responsive regulation in the future.

Dr Puja Myles, Director of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink at the MHRA, said:

The RPF grant has given us a better understanding of the scenarios when synthetic data could be used to boost sample sizes of clinical trials.

This project is part of the MHRA’s work to promote innovation and embrace emerging technologies in clinical trials, to help get new treatments to patients faster.

Tim Johnson, Director of Policy at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said:

The Regulators’ Pioneer Fund has been instrumental in helping the UK Civil Aviation Authority explore how it can enable innovators to develop new products and services, including the safe introduction of hydrogen as an aviation fuel.

This support has helped us engage early with those who are researching and developing this technology, understand key regulatory challenges, and starting to lay the groundwork for zero-emission flight in the UK.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Placemaking and Milton Keynes City Council, Councillor Shanika Mahendran, said:

Thanks to the RPF, we’ve been able to start building the groundwork for using drones to make services more efficient. It’s given us a chance to explore what safety checks and rules we need to follow so we can move from just testing drones to using them in the long-term.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 20 May 2025.

Hundreds of highly skilled jobs will be created, and new research centres will be set up aimed at making new advances in medical science, thanks to a planned investment of up to £1 billion into the UK by world-leading biopharmaceutical company BioNTech announced today (Tuesday 20 May).

This is one of the biggest investments in the history of UK life sciences, made possible with government backing – all part of plans to support this growth-driving sector as part of the Plan for Change, and our mission to turbo-charge economic growth in every part of the country.

This historic investment is a testament to the confidence in the UK life sciences – one of the priority sectors of the economy that will form a key part of the forthcoming Industrial Strategy – as a driver of economic growth, job creation, and innovations that could overhaul what’s possible in healthcare. The sector is already thriving, worth £108 billion to the economy and providing more than 300,000 highly skilled jobs across the country. But through measures like our commitment to investing up to £520 million in the sector through the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, we want to boost UK life sciences to even greater heights, bolstering our ambitions to grow the economy, create jobs, and building on the UK’s position as the second-most attractive destination for international investment.

BioNTech will invest in the UK over the course of the next 10 years as part of an ambitious plan to significantly expand their presence here. That will see them create two new R&D hubs, the first to be based in Cambridge, as well as an AI hub to be based at BioNTech’s planned UK headquarters in London. These are planned to create more than 400 new highly skilled jobs over the next 10 years, including researchers in clinical and scientific drug development, bioinformatics, and a range of supporting functions. Indirectly, the investment is also likely to create a substantial number of additional jobs in the supply chain.

BioNTech are the pioneering company behind mRNA vaccines and cancer immunotherapies notably used to tackle COVID-19, and more recently trialled to help patients with cancer.

According to the Academy of Medical Sciences, every £1 spent on medical research delivers a return of 25p, every year, forever after that, so the long-term economic impact of an investment in research on this scale, speaks for itself. This is the government’s Plan for Change, in action, and shows how our ambitions for the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor are already pulling international investment into the UK.

BioNTech signed an agreement finalising the investment together with Science Secretary Peter Kyle today. As part of the agreement, the government will contribute up to £129 million in grant funding over a period of 10 years.

Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

This investment will propel the growth-driving life sciences sector to new heights, delivering cutting-edge facilities, building careers in the future-facing jobs we want our children to have, and ultimately unlocking progress in medical science that could save lives.

This is a clear indication of how we will deliver the government’s Plan for Change: working together with the best and brightest businesses and innovators to unlock their potential, and then reap the benefits for the economy, health and more that their drive and genius can deliver.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said:

This is another testament to confidence in Britain being one of the world’s top investment destinations and a global hub for life sciences. It will create hundreds of high-skilled, well-paid jobs, as we deliver on our promise to put more money in working people’s pockets through our Plan for Change.

CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, Uğur Şahin, said:

This agreement marks the next chapter of our successful strategic partnership with the UK government. Together, we have already made a meaningful difference in expanding access to investigational personalized cancer therapies for patients. Now, we are taking the next step to accelerate and broaden our research and development efforts advancing towards our vision to translate science into survival for patients.

In Cambridge, BioNTech plans to set up a new R&D centre focused on genomics, oncology, structural biology, and regenerative medicine. In London, BioNTech intends to establish its UK headquarters, which will be home to a new AI hub led by InstaDeep Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BioNTech SE, and a leading global technology company in the field of AI and machine learning. This hub will enable medical research, using AI, including looking into understanding disease causes, drug target selection and predictive analytics.

Over time, this work could lead to the discovery and development of new therapies, diagnostics and treatments for a range of diseases that currently cause heartbreak for countless patients and their families – all supporting the mission to rebuild the NHS for the long-term, that sits at the heart of the government’s Plan for Change.

It also builds on the government’s existing strategic partnership with BioNTech, to provide up to 10,000 patients with investigational personalised cancer immunotherapies by 2030. This is already transforming the experience of patients by broadening access to cancer vaccine trials in the UK.

The government’s support for BioNTech’s investment is a further example of how we are backing the UK’s thriving life sciences sector to even greater success – following on from the announcement of the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund at the Autumn Budget, and strategic collaborations agreed with other innovative life sciences companies. We will say more about our vision for a thriving future for UK life sciences in the forthcoming Life Sciences Sector Plan.

Steve Bates, CEO of the UK BioIndustry Association, said:

BioNTech’s investment demonstrates the UK’s position as a top destination for life sciences innovation and underlines why the government is absolutely right to back our sector as a priority for growth.

BioNTech is not only a pioneer in mRNA science, but also a visionary partner in building a truly unique public-private collaboration with the UK government and NHS – one that sets a benchmark for the world.

The UK has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leverage its strong position to attract investment from global investors to create well-paid jobs and scale UK companies, if the upcoming Life Sciences Sector Plan can address long-standing structural challenges in the financing and commercial environment.

Richard Torbett, Chief Executive of the ABPI, said:

This investment is a testament to the fantastic skills, research capabilities, and scientific infrastructure we have in the UK. It is also a template for how the UK could unlock further life science sector growth by removing the barriers and roadblocks to investment.

Big investments like this are years in the making and require both sides to have confidence that the other will deliver on their commitments. Trust is slow to build, but this deal shows it is worth the time and the risk.

Life science companies are already the largest investors in UK R&D – but much of this comes from a handful of companies with deep UK roots. The UK has an opportunity to capture more of the global science pie if we can improve our competitive offering to the sector.

The press release issued by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology on 20 May 2025.

The critical role that Ukraine’s scientists and researchers are playing in the battle for their country’s freedom, and its hopes for a brighter future, working hand-in-hand with UK colleagues, will be celebrated at an event at the British Academy in London later today (Tuesday 20 May).

The UK is resolute in its support for Ukraine, as the country defends itself in the face of Russia’s illegal and barbaric invasion. Our backing is cemented by the landmark 100 Year Partnership, unveiled by the Prime Minister and President Zelenskyy in January, of which strong and deep science and technology ties form a key part.

Joint work by the UK and Ukraine’s researchers is not only supporting Ukraine’s freedom and future, but also unlocking benefits to the UK economy, and more besides, all of which bolsters the Plan for Change. In one joint project, on health, the University of Warwick have worked with Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics to train AI models to quickly and accurately triage shrapnel wounds. And work by Manchester, Aston and Aberystwyth Universities and Ukrainian experts to boost Ukraine’s electricity grid with green energy, is also being applied to help Britain adapt as we get more energy from renewables, and as energy-intensive industries like data centres grow.

Meanwhile efforts like the UK-Ukraine Techbridge are helping bring innovative new technologies to bear on critical tasks like clearing landmines and unexploded bombs. The TechBridge is also focused on AI, health, cyber security, education, and agritech, and is building opportunities in both countries for trade, upskilling, and investment.

Much of this important work will be showcased at London’s historic British Academy later, at an event hosted by the UK’s Science Minister and Ukraine’s Deputy Minister for Education and Science, who will be joined by a host of academic, business and research leaders. Lord Vallance will announce an additional £100,000 for the UK-Ukraine Techbridge at the event, as well as £400,000 for trilateral efforts to harness digital technologies to improve government across the UK, Ukraine and Estonia.

UK Science Minister Lord Vallance said:

Freedom is an essential ingredient for scientific progress. Without it we are denied the ability to act on the curiosity that sparks so many breakthroughs, or to get the answers that make us think that maybe we have been wrong about the way we have thought about something in the past.

Science is also international, which means that Ukraine’s inventions and innovations are ones that the UK and the entire world ultimately benefits from, and vice versa. We only stand to gain from working with Ukraine to keep the flame of freedom alive, and it is only natural, that the joint endeavours of our researchers, are critical to those efforts.

Ukraine’s Minister for Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, said

For Ukraine, science is not only about development — it is also about resistance. Today, our researchers are working side by side with international partners not only to support the country in its most difficult times, but also to lay the foundations for recovery. This collaboration is a mutual investment in freedom, humanity, and the future. We are grateful to the United Kingdom for a partnership built on shared values and trust.

The UK-Ukraine partnership on science, innovation and technology has already delivered important work, starting with the:

• Researchers at Risk delivered by the British Academy,
• Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA) and
• wider UK National Academies

Since it was launched in 2022, it has helped over 170 Ukrainian experts endangered by the war to relocate to just under 70 UK universities, and continue their work on a temporary basis – as well as funding their research with £22.5 million. The UK Government has also supported the UK-Ukraine Twinning Initiative, which has enabled Ukrainian researchers to keep making progress, despite wartime disruption, by pairing up UK and Ukrainian universities. This has provided remote access to UK facilities and equipment, and avenues for joint funding, including £5 million of Research England grant funding to support new research partnerships.

We are also harnessing the AI, data science and digital expertise of the UK, Ukraine and Estonia with a view to enhancing digital government and public services through technology and innovation under an initiative on trilateral cooperation.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 19 May 2025.

New criteria to give certainty to world-class research organisations, helping to attract greater private investment and grow the UK economy.

Vital R&D work exploring innovation in areas as diverse as human health and cutting-edge computing will be given much-needed long-term certainty under new criteria unveiled by Science Minister Lord Vallance today (Monday 19 May).

It will enable and support government departments and other public bodies to fund R&D over a ten-year period – giving certainty to world-class research organisations that their work will continue over the long-term, helping to attract greater private investment, grow the UK economy and deliver on our Plan for Change.

While specific funding will be determined in the coming weeks, it could, for example, see research organisations tackling areas like antimicrobial resistance or developing quantum computers – complex issues which can take years to develop and understand – granted longer timescales to boost their chances of unearthing truly valuable solutions and improving lives.

It could also mean longer-term funding for infrastructure, such as large-scale research facilities and equipment, giving them certainty that the tools they need to drive progress are secured.

This will more broadly enable long-term research that tackles the key issues facing the UK, and will crowd investment into the sector from businesses attracted to the certainty of public backing.

Evidence shows that the average £1 invested in public R&D leverages double that in private investment and generates £7 in net benefits to the UK economy in the long run – providing a major boost to the UK economy. This also delivers on a manifesto commitment and on calls from research organisations, innovators and milestone independent reports such as the Landscape Review of R&D.

The criteria which will be used by departments and public bodies to identify and prioritise relevant ten-year funding proposals are centred around 4 areas:

• Infrastructure and core capabilities – where ten-year funding will allow recipients to develop or maintain core national infrastructure or support more impactful use of such infrastructure, which would not be possible under shorter funding cycles.
• Talent attraction and retention – where the skills development in a particular area is demonstrably vital to the UK growth agenda and longer-term funding would enable development of a pipeline of skilled researchers, scientists or engineers that otherwise would be difficult.
• International collaboration – where there are demonstrable, additional opportunities for international collaborations with wider strategic benefits.
• Partnerships and business collaboration – where there is demonstrable need for long term partnerships with industry – including charity and philanthropy – to tackle a significant challenge relevant to economic growth, and where shorter funding cycles would impede effective partnerships.

Science Minister, Lord Vallance, said:

Research and innovation, from computing and AI to health breakthroughs need stability of funding.

We are delivering on our manifesto commitment to support and encourage public bodies to deliver long-term ten-year funding streams where appropriate, while retaining the flexibility of shorter-term cycles to deal with emerging priorities.

This change will provide certainty to certain types of research organisations and unlock vital business investment into our world-class research sector to drive the growth at the heart of our Plan for Change.

The announcement comes ahead of the publication of the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy and will ensure the UK continues to be a world leader in growth-driving sectors delivering increased investment and secure, skilled jobs for working people across the country.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has worked with the Treasury and other stakeholders to develop the principles of ten-year funding and the process by which public bodies will select specific activities or institutions for long-term funding, to provide transparency for the R&D sector.

The guidance recommends that public bodies should set a maximum limit for the proportion of R&D budget that, at any one time, should be allocated to ten-year funding. This will retain the agility to respond to new and emerging priorities in the short and medium term.

Further details on the initial recipients of ten-year budgets will be set out in the second phase of the Spending Review, and in due course following the allocation of the R&D budget.

Departments will operate their own selection process, in line with the guidance. The guidance will allow departments to implement a targeted approach and allocate ten-year budgets to the specific programmes, activities and smaller research organisations that would best be able to unlock the economic and scientific benefits associated with long-term funding.

Ten-year budgets will also act as a signal of government’s long-term priorities in key sectors, helping to underpin the government’s upcoming Industrial Strategy. This is part of a wider government approach to reforming R&D funding over the longer-term, including providing stability and certainty to the R&D sector by giving clarity on the government’s R&D priorities.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 14 May 2025.

A government-developed AI tool has been used for the first time to review public responses to a consultation – helping save time and improve efficiency.

A new AI tool has summarised what the public have told the government in response to a consultation for the first time – providing nearly identical results to officials.

The tool, called ‘Consult’, was first used on a live consultation by the Scottish Government when it was seeking views on how to regulate non-surgical cosmetic procedures – like lip fillers and laser hair removal – as use of the treatments has risen.

The tool now set to be used across departments in a bid to cut down the millions of pounds spent on the current process, which often includes outsourcing analysis to expensive contractors – helping to build a productive and agile state to deliver the Plan for Change.

Reviewing comments from over 2,000 consultation responses using generative AI, Consult identified key themes that feedback fell into across each of six qualitative questions. These themes were checked and refined by experts in the Scottish Government, the AI tool then sorted individual responses into themes and gave officials more time to delve into the detail and evaluate the policy implications of feedback received.

As this was the first time Consult was used on a live consultation, experts at the Scottish Government manually reviewed every response too. Identifying what an individual response is saying, and putting it in a ‘theme’ is subjective, humans don’t always agree. When we compare Consult to the human reviewer, we see they agree the majority of the time – with differences in view having a negligible impact on how themes were ranked overall.

‘Consult’ is part of ‘Humphrey’, a bundle of AI tools designed to speed up the work of civil servants and cut back time spent on admin, and money spent on contractors. It forms part of the government’s plan to make better use of technology across public services, in a bid to target the £45 billion in productivity savings that it offers while creating a more agile state that can more effectively deliver the Plan for Change.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

No one should be wasting time on something AI can do quicker and better, let alone wasting millions of taxpayer pounds on outsourcing such work to contractors.

After demonstrating such promising results, Humphrey will help us cut the costs of governing and make it easier to collect and comprehensively review what experts and the public are telling us on a range of crucial issues.

The Scottish Government has taken a bold first step. Very soon, I’ll be using Consult, within Humphrey, in my own department and others in Whitehall will be using it too – speeding up our work to deliver the Plan for Change.

The Scottish Government’s Public Health Minister Jenni Minto said:

Using the tool was very beneficial in helping the Scottish Government understand more quickly what people wanted us to hear and our respondents’ range of views. Officials were reassured through the process that the AI was doing a good job, supporting us to undertake the analysis that will inform our next steps.

Using this tool has allowed the Scottish Government to move more quickly to a focus on the policy questions and dive into the detail of the evidence we’ve been presented with, while remaining confident that we have heard the strong views expressed by respondents.

While these early results are promising, ‘Consult’ is currently in trial. More evaluation covering the accuracy and efficiency of the tool will take place to ensure it’s working properly ahead of final rollout decisions.

Across the 500 consultations the government runs annually, the tool could help save officials from around 75,000 days of analysis every year, which costs the government £20 million in staffing costs.

In doing this, the technology will help create a more agile state that can more easily respond to new challenges and effectively deliver the Plan for Change.

Officials who worked with Consult from the Scottish Government on this first live test commented that they were “pleasantly surprised” that AI analysis provided a “useful starting point” in its initial analysis, with others noting that it ultimately “saved [them] a heck of a lot of time” and allowed them to “get to the analysis and draw out what’s needed next”.

They also added that the use of Consult “takes away the bias and makes it more consistent”, by removing opportunities for individual analysts to “project their own preconceived ideas”.

With some consultations receiving tens or hundreds of thousands of responses, and given the strong levels of accuracy demonstrated in early tests, Consult will soon be used on major consultations without officials manually reviewing every response individually.

That said, Consult has been designed to keep the experts in the loop throughout. Officials will always review the themes and how responses are sorted into them through an interactive dashboard that will allow them to filter and search for insights.

Notes to editors

The response to the Scottish Government consultation will be published before the end of June. The consultation will inform the content of a Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures Bill that was announced on 6 May.

The first live evaluation of Consult shows that it secured an F1 score (a common measure of alignment for AI tools) of 0.76, widely considered ‘good’ when evaluating the performance of AI tools.

The full evaluation, published today, can be found here. We expect further testing and evaluation of the tool to happen in coming months, ahead of any decisions about wider rollout.