UK unveils £473m to improve research infrastructure

Raft of new initiatives announced by science department include building “most powerful” electron microscope

The UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has revealed a raft of investments—totalling £473 million—to boost the country’s research infrastructure.

The funding includes more than £155m to digitise most of the UK’s 137 million natural science specimens. The digitisation will allow researchers to access detailed data, which in turn can help studies into areas such as biodiversity or pandemics.