Industry minister Lee Rowley has announced this week that record levels of government funding will be allocated to the UK’s aerospace technology research programme.
The new raft of funding going to the Aerospace Technology Institute [ATI] will amount to £685 million for the financial years of 2022-to-2023 through to 2024-to-2025 and will help advance the research and development of green aviation technology.
The funding is an increase of £235 million compared to what was invested over the previous three-year period, and industry will also be co-investing into the innovations to take the total amount of funds allocated over the next three years to more than £1 billion.
The government funding announced this week is also in addition to £180 million of new government funds announced for the Net Zero Strategy, which will go towards supporting the deployment and commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuel plants in the UK.
Since the ATI programme was established in 2013, the UK’s green aviation initiatives have been a major success, yielding ZeroAvia’s six-seat hydrogen-electric aircraft and Rolls-Royce’s development of the largest, most efficient aircraft engine.
The projects have generated 81,000 high value jobs and added £97 billion in value to the economy to date. The additional funding will continue to bolster the UK’s world-leading research and development programme in the field and support the jobs it sustains.
In light of its success to date, the government has also extended the ATI programme until 2031 to give industry the confidence it needs to continue co-investing into green technology innovations with government.
The API programme will, therefore, continue to take pride of place in the government’s Jet Zero policy, with a final Jet Zero strategy due for publication in the summer of 2022.
Announcing the funding this week, industry minister Lee Rowley commented: “Since its formation in 2013, the Aerospace Technology Institute has been an enormous success, already funding world-leading innovations like hydrogen aircraft and 3D printed components. These projects are making a real-world impact and could one day help the global aviation industry transition to net zero.
“Today’s commitment is a sign of our increasing ambition and will give large and small businesses the confidence to invest in the technologies that will bring civil aviation into the next generation.”
Gary Elliott, CEO of the Aerospace Technology Institute said: “I am delighted that the UK government’s commitment to R&T investment in sustainable aircraft has today resulted in an uplift to £685 million for the UK aerospace sector over the Spending Review period, in addition to the commitment at the Budget that the ATI Programme will continue until 2031.
“With the support of the Aerospace Growth Partnership, and with government investment matched by industry, the ATI will be able to invest more than £1 billion over the next three years in the cutting-edge technology needed to move towards our net zero targets. This has allowed us to reopen ATI funding to new applications from April and we will work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy [BEIS] and Innovate UK to ensure that this funding drives UK economic growth and reduces global aviation emissions.”
The Aerospace Technology Institute programme will reopen to new funding applications from April 4.
Photo by Gabriel Mihalcea on Unsplash
