Government Invests £23m into Cutting Edge UK Telecoms R&D
The UK Government’s Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, has today outlined a raft of new investments, reforms and appointments aimed at “supercharging innovation and helping to grow the economy“, which among other things includes an investment of £23m into “cutting edge telecoms research and deployment“.
The Secretary of State today declared to techUK’s conference that there is “no route to long-term growth and no solution to our productivity problem, without innovation“, before confirming that the Government would deliver the “first ever dedicated plan for the digital and technologies sector with transparent, adaptable, pro-innovation regulation as a central pillar“.
Under the Government’s new plans, “red tape that is no longer fit for the opportunities of the 21st century will be peeled away“, so that new technologies can be brought to market quickly and safely. But it’s currently unclear how much of this will extend to the telecoms side of things.
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The announcement also mentioned an investment of £23 million in telecoms R&D that, we’re told, will “deliver breakthroughs in getting coverage to places that can’t currently receive signals, and support projects delivering real, tangible change for people and businesses across Britain” – with smart sensors to prevent damp and mould in social housing in Glasgow, or using 5G mobile to help farmers in Sussex monitor vineyards and maximise their yields.
The Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, said:
“Everywhere you see, there is an imbalance of power in this country which has – for too long – made it impossible to imagine a better future for Britain.
To deliver our Plan for Change we have to shift the balance of power, away from stagnation and old ideas, towards innovation and opportunity, and the bold people building a new future for Britain.
In doing so, by 2035 we could see a whole new Britain emerge, harnessing the power of technological development, from engineering biology to AI, semiconductors and cyber security, or quantum and future telecoms for a stronger economy and better lives for all in the UK.”
As we understand it, around £7m from that £23m investment will go toward local projects that can integrate 5G wireless networks with both businesses and public services, while the remaining funding will research how AI and cloud computing can be put to even better use within telecoms and modern digital networks. Hopefully more detail will be revealed in the near future.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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‘using 5G mobile to help farmers in Sussex monitor vineyards and maximise their yields.’
Why is 5G needed? How much data is moving around?
‘breakthroughs in getting coverage’. Such as?
AI is the answer innit. No masts, no investment, nothing that will actually make a real difference. All problems will disappear with the use of magic. £23 million will be wasted and not a single thing is going to change.
Farmers would likey use picocells for simple, short-range coverage that can be moved around as required.
*likely*
Taxes are beyond record levels and they still find new ways to waste it on 5g for the cows. Same cows who will be forced fed dangerous chemicals so that they fart less
More rubbish from a pr stunt. R+D comes from funding science, medical, dental and engineering at universities. These have been in decline for circa 40 years. Brain drain all those years ago was at graduate level. For the past 20 years it is at A level!!
“smart sensors to prevent damp and mould in social housing in Glasgow” – or Glasgow City Council could employ better building techniques using robust materials instead of throwing up cheap housing only for damp to appear within a few years. Let’s just put a sticky plaster over the wound.
A sign that I’m getting old, I’m afraid? If I’m doling out cash, I would insist on seeing the actual return on investment that such statements are claiming to achieve. Why are the Government participating in such exercises?
Better to tighten up NOW on buyout of innovative UK companies with unique or transforming tech and applications.
The decades of wilful allowing of sale and export of these firms (I witnessed this first hand) in exchange for currying favour with “allies” or to yield post appointment board member “career opportunities” has to be called out and cease.
Maybe then there will be jobs and transformative infrastructures.
Who exactly are these press releases supposed to impress? It’s just a lot of nonsensical projects that anyone with half a brain can see are a waste of money.
…while at the same time perpetuating the divides they say they’re trying to close: Glasgow gets mouldy house solutions while Sussex gets better wine production? Someone act thought these were good examples to use in a PR.
Thirty-odd years ago, when I was working in contract research, pretty simple projects with limited new equipment purchase requirements could easily amount to about £2 million over 3 years for 1 person working, say, 20 billable hours a week on that particular project. This £23 million is the equivalent of about £8 million then. So you can work out your own back-of-the-envelope calculations as to how many people and hours it might equate to nowadays.
A large amount of this headline figure will be taken up by a particular company’s fixed costs (e.g. management, HR, analysis, transport). In reality, although it is a large amount of money to the average Joe or Jo, it’s a piddling amount when it comes to carrying project work out at the coalface, so to speak.
Just remember, compared with this year, around £2.5 million extra of that money will go straight back into the government coffers when the employers new National Insurance requirements come in next month.