NAO publishes Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund report

Article summary

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report on the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) management of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has had a long–term objective to raise productivity and living standards by advocating four ‘grand challenges’ (future mobility, clean growth, artificial intelligence and data and the ageing society) that are subject to bids from businesses and academia to investigate the significant ‘challenges’ faced by the UK that may merit financial aid from the Fund. The report assesses whether the Fund’s set up is likely to ‘optimise value for money’, examines the ‘establishment of the Fund’ and the approach to ‘monitoring and evaluating the Fund’s performance to date.’ The report concludes that UKRI and BEIS have accomplished the objective of generating interest from industry and academia.