Ministers give ‘high-risk’ science funder 10 years to prove worth

Ministers have given the UK’s new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) 10 years to prove its worth, as legislation to create the “high-risk, high-reward” funder was introduced.

The Advanced Research and Invention Agency bill, introduced to Parliament on 2 March, sets a 10-year grace period before potential dissolution of the organisation can be triggered.

“Recognising that pursuing ambitious, high-risk research requires patience, the government’s intention is to provide Aria with the necessary long-term security,” the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said.

The department said Aria will sit outside standard government contracting and granting standards, “enabling Aria to procure vital services and equipment with maximum flexibility so that it can carry out groundbreaking research at speeds rivalling a private investment firm”.

It also confirmed the government’s intention to exclude Aria from the Freedom of Information Act, “to reduce the administrative time required to process FoI requests and protect Britain’s competitive advantage, while allowing the agency to run an extremely lean and agile operating mode”.

The aim is that Aria will back innovative ideas with a higher possibility of failure than traditional research councils, in the hope of making groundbreaking scientific discoveries that create new technologies and jobs.

It will have an “innovative and flexible approach” to funding, including using seed grants and prize incentives, and the power to start and stop projects according to their success.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said the UK was “creating a bold, new scientific agency with invention at its core”.

“Aria will be equipped with all the tools and freedoms it needs to succeed – placing our world-leading scientists at the heart of decision-making, stripping back red tape and giving our best minds licence to invest in the most transformative research at speeds like never before,” Mr Kwarteng said.

A recruitment campaign will start within weeks to recruit an interim chief executive and chair for Aria, which has been inspired by the US’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and will have a budget of £800 million to spend between now and 2024-25.

As reported previously by Times Higher Education, Aria will sit outside UK Research and Innovation, the country’s umbrella funding body.

But it will be subject to scrutiny by the National Audit Office, and it will have to submit an annual report and statement of accounts.

The government will have powers to direct the agency to cease collaborations or close programmes on the grounds of national security.

Amanda Solloway, the science minister, said: “By facilitating fast and flexible funding, removing bureaucracy and accepting failure as an essential part of scientific discovery, this new agency will empower our scientists and innovators to go where they haven’t been before – accelerating the development of future products and technologies that could change all our lives for the better.”

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com