Budget 2020: UK to launch 800m blue sky research agency | News from the United Kingdom

The government will inject at least 800 meters into a new scientific research agency on the blue sky as part of a series of pro-business measures designed to strengthen the competitive advantage of the British.

The British agency, the brainchild of Boris Johnsons closest political adviser, Dominic Cummings, will fund high-risk, high-reward science and be modeled on the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in the United States. United.

The ARPA project was born out of the Cold War, after being launched by the United States government in 1958 in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the world's first satellite, Sputnik. Later, it was renamed DARPA after its attention shifted to defense and national security.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that it was time for the UK to regain its pioneering roots. We are the country of Newton, Hodgkin and Turing, he said. Ours is a story filled with ideas, inventions and discoveries and it really is a national story: the first steam railway operated between Stockton and Darlington, the first television was invented by a Scotsman. A Welshman invented the hydrogen fuel cell and Jocelyn Bell Burnell, born in Northern Ireland, discovered the first radio pulsars.

To compete and succeed in the next decade and beyond, we must rediscover this spirit.

The agency is part of plans to increase public investment in research and development from currently 11.4 billion to 22 billion annually by 2024-25 and make the UK the one of the world's scientific and research centers.

The additional funding includes € 900 million to develop the government's national space strategy and space innovation fund over the next five years, as well as to commercialize nuclear fusion technology through the UK Atomic Energy Authority . It will also contribute to the development of British supply chains for the large-scale production of electric vehicles, a decision announced in September.

About 400 m of the 22 billion pot will support advanced research, infrastructure and equipment in UK institutes and universities, while 300 m will be used for research in mathematics, increasing the funding of doctoral programs and scholarships.

Businesses will benefit from a slightly larger tax break on their own R&D spending. The allowance will drop from 12% to 13%, which means businesses would save approximately 2,400 taxes on a typical claim.

Sunak is also extending a tax allowance to boost investment in new structures and buildings from 2% to 3%, which could provide $ 100,000 in relief to companies investing in buildings worth 10 million. This is in addition to the emergency reductions in business rates which will result in the elimination of business property taxes over the next fiscal year and an increase in the employment allocation which results in some companies have the option of reducing their national insurance bill from 3000 to 4000.

But in order to save money, the Treasury abandoned plans to cut corporate tax from 19% to 17% on April 1. The move is expected to generate about $ 33 billion in total for the Consolidated Revenue Fund over the next five years.

The Chancellor also unveiled a financing program to support growing companies, 130 million reserved for the extension of the loan program for startups and 200 million reserved for the British Business Bank to invest in new companies seeking to grow in size.

As part of efforts to boost global exports from the UK, the government plans to set up dedicated trade envoys representing the North, Midlands, Wales and West of the West. England in embassies around the world. Meanwhile, UK Export Finance, the government agency responsible for promoting UK exports with credits, guarantees, loans and insurance, will receive an additional $ 2 billion to help finance green projects, while an additional billion will be used to support foreign customers looking to buy goods and services from the UK defense and security sector.

Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chamber of Commerce, said: Business investment is still anemic, we are delighted to see the Chancellor offering stronger incentives for companies to invest. Increase in R&D spending credit and allocation for structures and buildings will give UK businesses a boost in advancing investment in factories, machinery and real estate .

Carolyn Fairbairn, chief executive of the British Confederation of Industry lobby group, said the pro-business moves show that the government is taking decisive action on vital long-term issues. She said there were still gaps that the government had not filled with regard to skilled workers, energy efficiency and the UK's transition to a low emission future but overall, this sent a strong signal about the UK approach to long-term opportunities.

Significantly increasing R&D funding, creating a UK version of ARPA, a fundamental review of corporate tariffs and promised spending on infrastructure will all bring real benefits to people, businesses and communities.