Investment will allow the Catapults to help thousands of businesses across the UK conduct cutting-edge R&D and train hundreds of apprentices and doctoral students in technical skills in high-demand from industry.Additional funding will support the CGT Catapult in its mission of providing end-to-end support to businesses and organisations to translate early-stage research into commercially viable and investable cell and gene therapies.
The UK government today announced a £780m investment in the UK’s internationally renowned Catapult network. This long-term investment in six of the Catapults, including the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Catapult established by Innovate UK, will allow them to expand their support for businesses wishing to innovate and invest in R&D. Today’s funding builds on the £180m investment announced by the Prime Minister for centres in the North East last month, taking the total of additional funding to almost £1bn.
Over the next five years, the £780m investment will allow the Catapult network to help thousands of businesses across the UK conduct cutting-edge R&D and train hundreds of apprentices and doctoral students in technical skills in high-demand from industry. This will be alongside investment from the industry, which is expected to be well over £1.5bn in R&D over the next five years. By transforming innovation in their sectors, the Catapult network will help deliver the Grand Challenges of the Industrial Strategy and will play a critical role in helping the UK achieve its ambition to raise investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
Today’s funding builds on the success of the Catapult centres. This investment of £70.6m in the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult over the next 5 years builds on the recently-announced £12m funding for the expansion of the manufacturing centre in Stevenage and the £3m investment in skills. Since our founding in 2012, we have already seen the UK cell and gene therapy sector flourish and grow into the most complete and integrated ecosystem in the world with a growing manufacturing and development cluster and the only coordinated network of advance therapy treatment centres.
The Cell and Gene therapy catapult £60m GMP cell and gene therapy manufacturing centre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire was opened by Business Secretary Greg Clark MP in April 2018, offering businesses an opportunity to base research and scale-up operations in a world-standard facility as they move these living medicines towards market availability. Today’s funding will play a key role in the continued advancement of the UK as a global leader in the development of cell and gene therapies and ultimately accelerating the timeframe for bringing them to patients.
Keith Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
The network of Catapults is a long-term investment for the benefit of UK businesses. They offer world-class facilities and expertise to help businesses innovate and grow. Specifically, the CGT Catapult is designed to accelerate the UK’s position as a leading global hub of excellence in the development, manufacture and delivery of cell and gene-based medicines. Today’s additional funding will support the CGT Catapult in its mission of providing end-to-end support to businesses and organisations in the UK and worldwide to translate early-stage research into commercially viable and investable cell and gene therapies which make a significant, lasting impact on healthcare.
Today’s significant announcement means our world-class network of Catapults can build on their success and continue helping thousands of businesses across the UK to undertake innovative R&D. This long-term investment will mean the Catapults can help deliver the Grand Challenges of the Industrial Strategy in their sectors and help the UK achieve its ambition to raise investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
In their first five years the Catapults have supported around 3,000 small businesses to develop and exploit new technologies. They operate more than £850m world-class facilities and are also training hundreds of apprentices and doctoral students, such as at the High Value Manufacturing Catapult where in the last year 900 apprentices have gained invaluable practical experience with cutting-edge technologies used in modern manufacturing.
Dr Ian Campbell, Interim Executive Chair, Innovate UK