In 2025, the UK Government identified research and innovation as a critical strategic asset for driving economic growth and delivering wider government missions.
In response, policymakers introduced a series of significant interventions aimed at maximising its impact and benefits for the UK and its citizens.
This change is principally characterised by:
- Stronger alignment of public investment in research and innovation with the eight priority industrial
sectors set out in the Industrial Strategy, reinforcing a more mission-led and sector-focused approach to
growth. - A renewed emphasis on outcomes and impact, with changes both to what research and innovation
is funded and to how public funding is governed and managed, including greater focus on economic,
societal and place-based benefits. - A significant restructuring of public research funding, most notably through the introduction of a threebucket framework for UKRI investment, alongside a shift towards funding fewer priorities more intensively and reforming delivery institutions to support this approach.
This briefing details these changes and what they mean for universities, businesses and their collaboration
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