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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has published its new Strategy 2026-2031 and Delivery Plan 2026-2027, setting out how it will invest more than £9 billion per year to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive economic growth across the UK over the next five years.
The strategy outlines UKRI's vision for strengthening the UK's research and innovation system, with a renewed focus on delivering outcomes for society and the economy while continuing to support world-leading discovery research. UKRI states that approximately half of its investment will support curiosity-driven and discovery-led research, while the remainder will be targeted towards areas with the potential to deliver significant economic and societal impact.
The new strategy is built around five priorities:
- Supporting discovery and curiosity-driven research.
- Addressing strategic government and societal priorities.
- Helping companies start, scale and stay in the UK.
- Strengthening the foundations of the research and innovation system.
- Reforming UKRI to become a more agile and outcome-focused organisation.
A key feature of the accompanying Delivery Plan is the introduction of new cross-UKRI Priority Programmes, designed to bring together expertise and funding from across UKRI's councils and disciplines. The programmes will align research and innovation investment more closely with the UK's Industrial Strategy and focus on areas including life sciences, artificial intelligence and digital technologies, and advanced manufacturing.
The Delivery Plan also outlines reforms intended to simplify and accelerate research funding processes, support more ambitious and interdisciplinary research, and strengthen pathways from research to commercialisation. UKRI aims to provide better support for innovative businesses while working more strategically with partners across government, industry and the wider research sector.
The publications provide the clearest indication yet of UKRI's future direction, combining long-term investment in fundamental research with a stronger emphasis on economic growth, innovation and public benefit. For universities, researchers and partners, the strategy signals greater alignment between research funding, national priorities and opportunities to translate research into real-world impact.
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