Royal Society responds to Budget 2014 announcements

The chancellor of the Exchequer today announced an additional £222 million funding for science over the next five years.

The money will go to:

• new Centres for Doctoral Training (£106 million),
• the development of The Alan Turing Institute to study ‘big data’ (£42 million),
• the development of further cell therapy manufacturing capability in the UK (£55 million)
• a Graphene Open Access Innovation Centre (£19 million).

In response Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society said:

"This government has shown consistent support for science.  It recognises that research is the seed corn for innovation and that is key to long term sustainable economic growth.  Investment in our best scientists and scientific research is an investment in the UK's future and now that we are seeing signs of economic recovery it is the time to provide even greater support for our science."