UK Strategic Investment Fund "could play important" R&D role

A group of UK organizations concerned with R&D, including the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the BioIndustry  Association, the British In Vitro Diagnostics Association and the London  Chamber of Commerce and Industry have written a joint letter to Lord  Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and  Regulatory Reform to press for the best use of a new subsidy mechanism  introduced in this year's government finance bill.

The authors, including ABPI director general Richard Barker and BIA  chief executive Aisling Burnard, state that "if directed to best effect,  we believe this new fund could play a highly-important role in helping  young businesses of the future to survive the downturn and help the UK  emerge from it on a sounder economic footing. It would also help some of  the specific objectives outlined in both [the] Review and Refresh of  Bioscience 2015 and Digital Britain [reports]." They also noted that  the UK has very few potential sources of funding able to raise $1.0  billion for a firm through its entire development process.