On 4 March, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt gave a significant boost to the UK’s manufacturing sector, unveiling a £360 million investment package for British manufacturing and R&D.
The announcement followed hot on the heels of £4.5 billion outlined in the Autumn budget statement for strategic manufacturing sectors across the UK, which will come into play from 2025 for the next five years.
As part of wider plans to grow the economy, boost resilience and support jobs across the UK, the latest funding package will go towards several companies and projects who are making cutting edge technology in sectors key to economic growth.
As Hunt went on to detail, the funding is being targeted at sectors where the UK is – or could be – world-leading and is designed to unlock investment from the private sector by providing certainty for investors. It will support the government’s priority to grow the economy by protecting existing and creating new jobs, to create the long-term change our country needs to deliver a brighter future.
At the British Design Fund, we applaud this initiative and moves by the government to ensure the UK is the best place to start, grow and invest in manufacturing. We also applaud all the good work being carried out by organisations such as Innovate UK, who are awarding grants and support to earlier stage innovation and well thought through initiatives in this sector.
But we believe there is still so much more that could be done.
The volume of applications we are receiving for our recently launched sixth fund would seem to indicate that there simply isn’t enough seed fund money around to support the very early-stage enterprises, which are going to be the backbone of British manufacturing in the future.
So, we will continue to plough a reasonably solitary furrow in supporting as many of these businesses as we can. With some thirty businesses already in the fund’s portfolio, we are looking to double that in the next couple of years.
To find out more, please contact:
BDF Chairman John Mathers – john@britishdesignfund.co.uk
BDF CEO Damon Bonser – damon@britishdesignfund.co.uk
