Leyser says 2.4% R&D funding target will be ‘very challenging’

But UKRI chief tells MPs ambitious targets are ‘really important’ given UK’s below-average investment

Meeting the government’s overall R&D investment target of 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027 will be “very challenging”, the head of the UK’s national research funding agency has said, as she called for a multi-year settlement for the funder.

UK Research and Innovation chief executive Ottoline Leyser was speaking during a House of Commons Public Accounts Committee session on 4 March a day after the chancellor delivered his 2021 spring budget, which contained little new money for R&D.