It has been rather a busy week for the Universities and Science Minister David Willets, with multiple funding announcements concerning the 8 core technologies and sciences the UK government are determined to bring the country to the fore of, as well as the announcement of a governmental plan to further “reduce, replace and refine the use of animals in research”.

Before we delve into the funding details from this week let’s take a quick look at those 8 great technologies.

Big Data: In 2012 90% of the world’s data has been collected in the past two years. It is clear that scientists, policy makers and others need the capability to properly analyse and use this large amount of data. The big data market is expected to create 58,000 new jobs and generate £216bn for the UK economy before 2017.

Satellites: Space industries added £8.2bn to the UK economy since 2009 and will continue to be an important part of the country’s economy while also having tremendous research potential.

Robotics and autonomous systems: The general goal here is to utilise robotics and systems to improve manufacturing, medicine and transport with applications in a variety of industries. The UK has a good history with autonomous systems, for example British autonomous submarines were the first to explore under a polar ice shelf. Last year it was announced that the government plans to make the UK a world centre for the development of driverless cars. The government predicts a £13bn global market for robotics and autonomous systems by 2025.

Synthetic Biology: There is a predicted global market of £62bn for synthetic biology and it’s applications by 2020.

Regenerative Medicine: Generally focusing on stem cell research and use in medicine to repair damaged tissues this market is expected to create 15,000 jobs in the UK by 2020.

Agri-science: The UN has predicted that food production will need to increase by 70% by 2050 to keep up with increases in the population. Developments in plant science and other fields of agricultural science are necessary to fuel this increase in production.

Advanced Materials: “UK material-related industries have a yearly turnover of £197bn”, keeping up with advancements in the study of materials such as graphene is necessary to maintain this industry and has global applications in many industries.

Energy Storage: Reducing electricity consumption and maximising storage of energy from sources of renewable energy that are temporal in nature (e.g. wind). The government expects £12bn in business revenue from advances in energy storage research.

In the autumn 2012 statement a £600 million investment was announced to support the development of these 8 technologies which were chosen as the UK already has produced world-leading research in the area which itself has a range of applications and potential for commercialisation.

Funding for Big data

The autumn 2012 statement saw £189 million of funding for big data (somewhat comparable to the US $200 million for the US big data R&D initiative), but now at a conference on high performance computing and big data on 6th February, David Willets announced £73 million of new funding towards unlocking the potential of big data. Ranging over 55 projects the funds will be appropriated by the Medical Research council (MRC), the Arts and Humanities Research council (AHRC), the Economic and Social Research council (ESRC) and the Natural Environment Research council (NERC).

“Making the most of large and complex data is a huge priority for government as it has the potential to drive research and development, increase productivity and innovation and ultimately transform lives.” “This funding will help build UK medical research capability and improve collaboration across institutions, academia, the NHS and industry.” – Universities and Science Minister David Willets.

The MRC will invest £32 million (up to an expected £50 million) towards improving the infrastructure and capabilities in medical bioinformatics. This is the latest instalment of a £90 million funding incentive by the MRC with £20m last year used to establish the first health informatics research institute in the UK. One of the first awardees of funds from this medical bioinformatics initiative includes Sir Alex Markham of my own University of Leeds and the Leeds MRC medical bioinformatics centre.

The AHRC will invest £4 million into 21 new projects which will make data sets available to the general public. In one such project Lancaster University will make thousands of musical scores open to the public online. The ESRC has £14 million to invest into 4 new research centres based in Essex, Glasgow, London and Leeds. This is the second stage in a project that aims to make private sector and governmental data available to the public. The NERC has £4.6 million for 24 projects that will aim to take existing data sets and make them more accessible and useful to UK researchers.

Funding for Synthetic Biology

Earlier in the week at an event at Church House, London, the government minister also announced a £40 million investment from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research council (EPSRC) towards the establishment of three new synthetic biology research centres in Bristol, Nottingham and Cambridge/Norwich. £10 million of this funding comes from the £600 million announced in 2012 while 70% of the remainder comes from the BBSRC and the remaining 30% from the EPSRC.

For those wondering what synthetic biology is, it can be considered a field that has emerged from biotechnology (the use of living things in engineering, technology and medicine) that can be defined as the design of biological systems. Essentially our improved scientific understanding of biology has led us to the point where we can start applying engineering principles to our knowledge to produce novel synthetic systems. These systems can be used for various applications such as the production of new medicines, food or energy sources. The field has huge potential for a range of industries but it is yet to be fully realised and put into practice. The Bristol based centre will focus on developing techniques to allow the fast and efficient production of biological material, whereas the Nottingham centre will develop systems to produce important chemicals through sustainable means. Finally the Cambridge and Norwich partnership, the OpenPlant Synthetic Biology research centre will focus on synthetic biology applications in plants.

“The 3Rs” in animal research

On the 7th February minister David Willetts announced a government “delivery plan” that aimed to reduce the use of animals in research. Since 2000 the number of procedures involving animals has increased from 2.5 million to more than 4 million in 2012.

“This delivery plan puts science at the heart of our commitment to work to reduce the use of animals in research. It highlights the important work our life sciences sector is doing to provide a package that is good for patients, animal welfare, the environment and the UK’s economic growth.” “Animals are only used when there are no suitable alternatives. But the results we get from research can transform lives and pave the way for new and ground breaking medical advances. By encouraging new cutting-edge approaches to science we will not only improve standards of animal welfare but also reduce costs to industry.” – Universities and Science Minister David Willetts

The plan, developed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Home Office and the Department of Health is in line with, and pledges support for guidelines set out by the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).This follows the 2010 pledge by the government to “work to reduce the use of animals in scientific research”. Although some organisations and UK-based animal rights groups have complained that the plan does not do enough to set firm targets or goals. On the other hand Norman Baker, the Home Office minister responsible for animal research, has said that it would be “artificial” to set a target for the number of experiments involving animals.

The 3Rs are more about ensuring that animals are used when necessary, in well-designed and thought through experiments that have a clear benefit and represent the best way to conduct the scientific work, rather than defining exactly how many experiments should be allowed to use animals per year. Setting such a limit on animal use would hamper many laboratories in their ability to produce world-leading research. Competition between companies and research groups for animal allotments would add further problems, although one could argue that competition could lead to increased animal protection through higher standards and better practise.

The regulatory system in the UK already means that researchers must provide evidence to justify the use of animals and provide a benefit-harm analysis to show how the suffering inflicted on the animals is outweighed by the potential benefits to humans. On top of this an ethical review body is used to ensure that facilities and staff are up to standard and are able to properly care for the animals. The objectives of this government plan is to further promote the 3Rs (reduce, replace and refine) use in research, promote awareness of animal research and the needs for it, increase the role of the Home Office in advancements in the 3Rs and to increase data and resource sharing between industry and academia. Further funding from the Technology Strategy Board also plans to help accelerate the development of novel non-animal technologies.