The British government announced on Friday the launch of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency (ARIA), a new independent research body for funding transformational science and technologies
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th February, 2021) The British government announced on Friday the launch of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency (ARIA), a new independent research body for funding transformational science and technologies.
"The new agency, the Advanced Research & Invention Agency (ARIA), will be tasked with funding high-risk research that offers the chance of high rewards, supporting ground-breaking discoveries that could transform people's lives for the better," the department for business, energy and industrial strategy stated.
With the budget of �800 million ($1.1 billion), ARIA will give freedom and funds to promising inventors to transform their ideas into technologies, products, and services, the statement said. Reportedly, the new agency will be led by prominent global researchers, who will use their expertise to identify and support cutting-edge projects at speed, unencumbered by bureaucracy and inflexible funding models.
"By stripping back unnecessary red tape and putting power in the hands of our innovators, the agency will be given the freedom to drive forward the technologies of tomorrow, as we continue to build back better through innovation," Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was quoted as saying.
ARIA will function similar to the influential US Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which was instrumental in the creation of transformational technologies, such as the internet and GPS, and its successor � DARPA, founder of mRNA vaccines and antibody therapies used in COVID research.
The new agency is expected to be fully functional by 2022. The required legislation to create ARIA will be introduced to the Parliament in the nearest future.
ARIA will work alongside the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) national funding agency as part of UK's recent R&D Roadmap, published in July 2020. In November 2020, the Spending Review cemented the government's plan by allocating �14.6 billion ($20.4 billion) for R&D in 2021 to 2022.
