Insider Brief
- UK Research and Innovation has outlined how it will deploy a record £38.6 billion government settlement over four years, aligning funding to a single mission focused on advancing knowledge, improving lives, and driving UK economic growth.
- UKRI’s targeted investment explicitly labeled for “Digital and Technologies: Quantum Technologies” totals £1.013 billion over the spending review period (FY 2026–27 through FY 2029–30).
- The allocation prioritizes £14 billion for curiosity-driven research, £8 billion for targeted R&D addressing national and societal challenges, and £7 billion to support innovative companies in scaling and commercializing technologies, with remaining funds supporting cross-cutting skills and infrastructure.
- Covering financial years 2026–27 through 2029–30, the outcome-focused framework cannot be directly compared with previous UKRI budgets or historic sector and research council allocations.
PRESS RELEASE — UKRI today has set out more detail on how it will invest its record four-year £38.6 billion allocation from government.
The allocations explainer provides information on how UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) funding will be invested across priority ‘buckets’ as set out by Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and UKRI CEO Ian Chapman at the recent Innovation for Growth Summit.
It also provides a breakdown of investment across the Industrial Strategy priority sectors.
The priority ‘buckets’ are:
- £8 billion on targeted research and development (R&D) addressing national and societal priorities, including clean energy, health resilience and national security
- £7 billion to support innovative company growth, helping UK businesses scale and commercialise cutting-edge technologies
- £14 billion for the curiosity-driven research that underpins the UK R&D system
The rest of UKRI’s £38.6 billion settlement will be used for foundational investments that cut across these three areas, including in skills and infrastructure.
New single mission
UKRI CEO Ian Chapman said: “We’re aligning our budget to a new single mission, to advance knowledge, improve lives, and drive UK growth. Over the next four years, we will scale research and innovation investment to almost £10bn per year and target world-leading areas with the strongest return for the UK. The Explainer published today sets out how we’ll be making choices in how we invest, by prioritising areas where the UK can be world-leading and by working closely with business.”
Route to stronger growth
Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: “There is no route to stronger growth without science, technology and innovation, so we must grasp the opportunities our world class researchers and innovators offer with both hands. By doing fewer things better and backing winning ideas, this round of record UKRI funding can help more promising UK businesses to scale up while homing in on projects which have the best chance of benefiting us all.”
This explainer provides a breakdown of UKRI’s allocations for financial years 2026 to 2027 through to 2029 to 2030.
The new outcome-focused approach to allocations means that it is not possible to directly compare these allocations to previous budgets or explainers, including comparisons with historic sector or research council investment levels.
