UK Research and Innovation’s management of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

UKRI, working with the Department and HM Treasury, should re-examine the arrangements for measuring the performance of the Fund, in particular whether the array of current objectives provide a coherent direction and have sufficient focus on the impacts to be delivered from the money spent;

UKRI, working with the departments, should streamline the current arrangements for selecting new challenges to help shorten the time taken to arrive at decisions. Lengthy approval timescales can have practical implications for applicants hoping for support, UKRI’s ability to manage its budget effectively, and ultimately the delivery of impacts. UKRI and the departments should assess whether the right staffing capacity is in place in UKRI at the times needed and whether the approval processes in the departments could be shortened without undermining the rigour of the exercise;

In line with the government’s ambition for R&D to support the wider ‘levelling up’ agenda, UKRI should examine the factors that may be driving the current geographical distribution of funding. This might include issues such as awareness of the Fund across the UK, and the intensity of involvement in the Fund across the industrial sectors known to be investing in R&D and innovation, for example, arising through the choice of challenge funds;

UKRI should review the impact of changes in its conditions for co-investment funding on the size of business applying for support through the Fund.