UKRI must also balance meeting the UK’s longer and shorter-term research and innovation needs when deciding where to allocate funding. It faces an inherent tension in allocating funding with government priorities in mind, while not stifling the innovation needed for future R&D.11 Professor Boyle felt that UKRI also has role in providing infrastructure that can be used by multiple research institutions. For example, UKRI could help universities by investing in supercomputing facilities that they could all use.12 Similarly, Professor Grant told us that UKRI had a bigger role than many people realise in skills and development training.13