Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what funding the Government (a) has provided and (b) plans to provide in the next two years to support the development of clusters of innovative research and development firms.

Strengthening clusters is a top priority for building our Innovation Nation. More places hosting world-leading and globally connected innovation clusters will create more jobs, productivity and growth. By September, we will publish an interactive digital tool that will map these clusters, helping us attract investment and inform future policy.

Several programmes, all closely involving local stakeholders, already support innovation clusters. For example, we are investing £100m to pilot Innovation Accelerators in three city regions, helping them become major, globally competitive centres for research and innovation, and the Investment Zones programme will catalyse some of the highest potential knowledge-intensive growth clusters.