Britain’s Technology Mission
The core idea
Britain must not be left lagging behind as other nations invest in the technologies that will shape future prosperity, security and productive capacity.
Under Proposal 21, government will establish a large-scale technology funding programme. The mission will direct public backing towards eleven priority fields identified in the master manifesto.
The technology mission
Artificial intelligence
Robotics
Automation
Nuclear fusion
Hydrogen
Biotechnology
Advanced manufacturing
Quantum computing
Space
Energy storage
Advanced materials
This is a portfolio approach. Britain would invest across digital, industrial, scientific, energy and space technologies rather than relying on progress in a single field.
How the fund would invest
The fund would use five forms of public support, allowing investment to respond to projects at different stages of research, development and commercial growth.
Grants
Direct support for eligible technology and research activity.
Low-interest loans
Repayable finance offered on supportive terms.
Equity investment
Public investment in exchange for an ownership stake.
Matched funding
Government capital provided alongside other investment.
Research partnerships
Collaborative backing for research and development.
Who would be eligible?
Universities
Academic research and innovation.
Start-ups
New and emerging technology businesses.
Established companies
Existing firms investing in future capability.
Research institutes
Specialist organisations advancing knowledge and application.
Consortia
Partners working together across organisations or sectors.
The master manifesto’s funding framework lists a £15 billion annual target for the Technology Investment Fund.
Why Britain needs a technology mission
Future technologies will influence how countries produce energy, manufacture goods, deliver services, protect infrastructure, conduct research and compete internationally.
Countries that develop capability early will be better placed to capture the jobs, investment and strategic advantages that follow. Britain should be an active participant in the next technological era, not a country forced to purchase every critical capability after others have developed it.
Keep pace
Back fields receiving major international investment so Britain is not left behind.
Build capability
Support the research, skills and organisations needed to develop technology in Britain.
Connect research and industry
Bring universities, research institutes and businesses together within the same mission.
Share risk
Provide patient backing where strategically important work may require long-term investment.
Support productivity
Invest in technologies capable of strengthening Britain’s future economic capacity.
Protect the future
Develop national resilience in areas with economic, energy or security significance.
A mission, not a prediction
The proposal does not claim that every funded technology, organisation or project will succeed. Genuine innovation carries risk.
Nor does the policy yet prescribe how individual awards would be selected. It establishes a strategic direction, an investment target, a range of funding mechanisms and the types of organisations that may participate.
Britain should help shape the technologies of the future—and share in the prosperity, capability and security they create.
Questions for scrutiny
- How should the £15 billion annual target be phased and funded?
- What independent tests should determine whether a project receives a grant, loan, equity investment, matched funding or research partnership?
- How should government balance high-risk frontier research with technologies closer to commercial deployment?
- What safeguards should protect public money while recognising that genuine innovation carries risk?
- When the state takes equity, how should ownership, returns and exits be managed transparently?
- How should the fund ensure that investment benefits regions across Britain rather than concentrating in established clusters?
- How should productivity, jobs, intellectual property, supply-chain resilience and wider public value be assessed?
- How should national security, research openness and international collaboration be balanced?
- How frequently should the priority technologies be reviewed as science and global competition evolve?
Core commitment
Government will establish a large-scale National Technology Investment Fund supporting eleven priority technologies through grants, low-interest loans, equity investment, matched funding and research partnerships, with a £15 billion annual target at maturity.
The objective is to ensure that Britain remains a serious technological nation: capable of developing, applying and benefiting from the innovations that will shape the decades ahead.
Source basis: Manifesto 1.1, Part IX, Policy 24 / Major Promise 21, together with the £15 billion annual target stated in the master manifesto’s funding framework.
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