Government Announces £70m Funding for Medical Manufacturing : The new Science Minister Sam Gyimah has announced a £70 million funding to create new manufacturing centres that will speed up the development of new medicines in London. This is part of the governmentâs strategy to build a country fit for the future through creating a stronger economy and fairer society.
The funding will support the development of innovative medical solutions, such as using virtual reality to aid rehabilitation and investing in digital speech therapy solutions for stroke and brain injuries. In addition, it will also boost jobs, enhance the NHS and ensure better care for people.
The minister will see how new, innovative technology is being developed while visiting Imperial College London. He will be shown a cartoon-like robot which can improve learning and emotional understanding in children with autism, as well as some AI facial-recognition research which could be used to help elderly people by detecting the onset of depression, or in security systems to recognise visitors to dementia sufferersâ homes as doctors, nurses or relatives.
Sam Gyimah will also speak at the Royal Society, as part of a day of Industrial Strategy activity, where he will announce the start of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Research and Innovation Infrastructure Roadmap Programme.
The Infrastructure Roadmap will be the first major piece of work that UKRI will undertake, and is expected to be finished in 2019 and will feature: large scientific facilities and major equipment, collections, archives and scientific data, e-infrastructures such as data and computing systems and communications networks.
Through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), the government is investing £181 million through the Leading-Edge Healthcare and the Digital Health Technology Catalyst over four years in the areas of advanced therapies, medicines and vaccines development and manufacturing, alongside an estimated £250 million of private funding from industry. The fund is expected to return £1 billion to the UKâs economy, support manufacturing and increase productivity.
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