The UK government plans to increase research investment, wit

London, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The UK government announced on the 9th that it plans to continue increasing research investment, and it is expected that by the 2029-2030 fiscal year, the national annual research funding will reach a record high of £ 22.6 billion.

Although the overall amount of research funding in the UK continues to increase, due to the significant rise in operating costs of various types of research in recent years, the expenditure pressure on UK research authorities has significantly increased. For this reason, the UK has chosen to adjust its funding structure, while ensuring the development of key emerging fields, to streamline and reduce expenses for some traditional basic research projects.

According to the latest arrangement, several well-known national laboratories in the UK need to save expenses, shorten the duration of some experiments, reduce equipment usage time, and compress or even suspend some basic research projects, involving fields such as space exploration, basic physics, and biomedical basic experiments.

To alleviate the impact, the UK government has specifically allocated £ 100 million in funding to help affected laboratories find market-oriented income and smoothly navigate through the adjustment period. At the same time, the UK government has reduced investment cuts in key fields such as astronomy and particle physics, and will continue to maintain the scale of top European research cooperation investment.

The UK government stated that the main idea of this funding adjustment is "trade-off optimization": to concentrate more funds on popular fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and supercomputers that can quickly drive economic development.

Many researchers have expressed concerns about this, believing that basic research is the foundation of technological development. Short term cost saving and emphasis on applied technology may affect the long-term research strength and innovation potential of the UK. (End)