The Government is to offer foreign companies £1.4bn worth of tech investment grants if they invest in key British technology sectors.
Ministers want to encourage overseas tech investment in electric vehicles and life sciences with £1.4bn in grants as part of this week’s Budget on Wednesday, October 27.
Cash will be given to international companies with “strategically important” investment proposals, according to the Financial Times.
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The new fund includes £354m to support investment in life sciences manufacturing, and more than £800m for the production of electric vehicles in the north-east and Midlands.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will make it easier for foreign companies to relocate to Britain, and also announce a team to help attract highly skilled overseas talent, something he discussed at a Treasury Connect event in London last month. Relocation support will be offered to tech talent from overseas universities, innovation hubs and research institutions. The talent team will launch in the Bay Area in San Francisco and Boston in the US in 2022, as well as Bengaluru in India, before expanding to six countries worldwide by 2023.
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Sunak’s Budget will also announce £150m of funding for regional “angel investors” to help small businesses outside London access early funding, as part of the Government’s “levelling up” agenda.
Mr Sunak said: “We want to make the UK the best place in the world to start, grow and invest in a business.”
Further reading on Budget 2021
Chancellor to drop target to spend £22bn annually on R&D by 2024-5
