Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what start-up funding the Government has allocated to new National Spectrum Centre in Aberystwyth to (a) enable UK wireless technology innovation and (b) create highly skilled job opportunities in Wales.
Answered by Alun Cairns
The UK Government has put research and innovation at the heart of its Industrial Strategy, setting an ambition for the UK to become the most innovative country in the world and increase its total R&D expenditure to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
The new National Spectrum Centre in Aberystwyth will be a part of this ecosystem of innovation across the UK and will have opportunities to access funds dedicated to supporting research in areas that are vital to our future economy. I visited Aberystwyth in September to discuss this project with key stakeholders and was hugely impressed with its ambitions.