Last week’s announcement by the UK chancellor Philip Hammond of an extra £2 billion a year for applied scientific research by 2020-21 is excellent, and is reassuring news given the uncertainty surrounding science funding post-Brexit.
The UK has never had a problem generating good ideas, but has generally been less good at exploiting them. Hence, investment in industrial innovation is crucial. So too is spending on infrastructure, so I also welcome the chancellor’s additional announcement of new road and rail links between Oxford and Cambridge, aimed at furthering what some have likened to a British version of Silicon Valley (although without the constant sunshine).
