Initial £100 million for expert taskforce to help UK build and adopt next generation of safe AI
- Prime Minister and Technology Secretary announce £100 million in initial start-up funding for taskforce responsible for accelerating the UK’s capability in rapidly-emerging type of artificial intelligence – on top of £900 million investment into compute technology at Budget
- Investment will fund new government-industry taskforce to ensure sovereign capabilities and broad adoption of safe and reliable foundation models, helping cement the UK’s position as a science and technology superpower by 2030
- In areas like healthcare, this type of AI has enormous potential to speed up diagnoses, drug discovery and development. In education it could transform teachers’ day-to-day work, freeing up their time to focus on delivering excellent teaching
Diagnostic strategy key to recovery (Wales)
- The NHS in Wales has published its plan for recovering diagnostic services by 2026, promising to invest in upgrading facilities and create community diagnostic hubs away from main hospital sites
- The new Diagnostics recovery and transformation strategy was a key objective in last year’s planned care transformation plan
- Health and social services minister Eluned Morgan said that around 85% of all patient pathways involved diagnostic testing and last year’s transformation plan acknowledged that diagnostic capacity in Wales was not sufficient to meet the demands on the service
MHRA Chair Stephen Lightfoot Standing Down
- After almost 8 years as a Board Member, Stephen has decided to step down on 11 July 2023
- He was appointed Chair of the MHRA Board by the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care from September 2020
- During this time, Stephen has provided strong leadership and strategic direction as the MHRA has navigated its way through the UK’s exit from the EU, the Cumberlege Review, the COVID-19 pandemic, its Transformation Programme and the development of the MHRA’s new three-year Corporate Plan, which is almost complete
Memorandum of understanding between the UK and Italy
- This memorandum includes a section on science and innovation
- This includes the intention to ‘promote consultations and cooperation among our scientific communities, drawing on each other’s areas of expertise, (e.g. on physics, basic sciences, space, including earth observation, sustainability and cluster to cluster engagement, and life sciences)’
- A high-level meeting on science and innovation will take place in the first six months of 2024
PA Consulting survey highlights tech adoption opportunities
- PA Consulting’s global surveyof 550 leaders across public and private healthcare found that nearly two thirds (65%) considered a lack of understanding of healthcare systems and pathways by medtech and pharma as slowing adoption in the next five years
- Responders also stated their belief that moving care increasingly from hospital to home will reduce healthcare costs, however, a lack of collaboration between stakeholders exists
- The report highlights key steps needed to accelerate care from hospital to home
- Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation George Freeman has hailed the successes of the UK Switzerland Science, Technology and Innovation Collaboration
- Great leaps have been made in the fields of AI, innovation hubs and R&D infrastructure, among many others
Make Horizon ‘top priority’, UK’s interim science minister told (paywall)
- Chloe Smith, who is covering the Secretary of State at DSIT while on maternity leave, has been urged to make reassociation to Horizon Europe a top priority
- The Government has stated their intention to reassociate, however, they are willing to walk-away and establish their own research grouping if this is not possible
- The Government recently published ‘Pioneer’, their plan B option
New name and remit for Commons Science and Technology Committee
- The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has been renamed the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, following the recent machinery of government changes and the creation of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- As part of the change, the Committee adds to its remit scrutiny of the expenditure, administration and policy of the Science, Innovation and Technology Department and its associated public bodies. These are the usual responsibilities of Departmental Select Committees
- The Committee retains its remit to ensure that Government policies and decision-making across departments are based on solid scientific evidence and advice, including oversight of the departmental Chief Scientific Advisers
