Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of (a) applicants and (b) successful applicants of the 2020 Strength in Places pathfinder programme came from (i) the North East, (ii) London and (iii) the South East.

The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Strength in Places Fund (SIPF) is a new competitive funding scheme that funds consortia of research organisations, businesses and local leadership, to carry out research and innovation activities that will have specific local economic impacts.

The SIPF operates a two-stage process, where consortia first submit shorter expressions of interest (EoI) bids, and the SIPF assessment panel makes recommendations to UKRI. Funded EoI bids receive up to £50k seedcorn funding to support development of full stage bids, which are then reviewed by the same assessment panel. The panel makes recommendations for both stages of funding against the published SIPF assessment criteria available on the UKRI website based on the strength of the bids.

The proportion of applicants and successful applicants for Wave 1 of the SIPF by NUTS1 categories at each of the stages is outlined below. These are defined by lead applicants, as SIPF projects are carried out by consortia, there will be partners within these projects that are in different NUTS1 classifications to the lead applicant.

Wave 2 of the programme is currently under way, with the announcement of successful EoIs for funding proposals scheduled for Summer 2020. SIPF is only part of a wider portfolio of funding streams delivered to organisations across the country through UKRI that places can benefit from.

Table 1

Notes on data supplied in Table 1

^a The data provided refers to eligible SIPF bids, in line with the published programme assessment criteria.