Last updated: 11 October 2026, 12.55am BST.
The government has announced £1 billion of UK Research and Innovation funding for high-growth industrial clusters over four years, but it has not yet named a Sussex allocation or a local winning project.
What the government announced
In an announcement on 9 October, the government said UKRI would commit £1bn over four years to clusters in the Industrial Strategy’s priority sectors. The stated aim is to connect research, businesses and skilled workers so that more discoveries become companies, products and jobs in the UK.
The package also includes a change in who controls some later-stage innovation money. Established mayoral strategic authorities in England are due to receive control of the existing Local Innovation Partnerships Fund from 2028.
Those are related policies, not one interchangeable pot. The £1bn cluster commitment is a new national announcement; the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund is a £500m UKRI programme running from 2026 to 2031.
Where Sussex stands
UKRI’s published Local Innovation Partnerships Fund page names ten regions with at least £30m earmarked, including Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Greater London, Glasgow, Cardiff and a Belfast–Derry corridor. Sussex is not on that earmarked list.
The same page says a competitive opportunity of up to £20m per place will be available for high-potential clusters outside the earmarked group. That means there may be a route for Sussex-based partnerships, but it does not amount to eligibility confirmation, an application timetable or an award.
Sussex can point to real assets: university research, a growing quantum-computing cluster, creative and digital businesses, health research and the new Sussex & Brighton strategic governance structure. Those strengths may help a future bid, but the decisive questions will be the published criteria, the lead organisation, the private and academic partners and the evidence that funding can create durable local capacity.
Why this matters locally
Research announcements often sound large while the local route remains vague. For Brighton and Sussex readers, the key distinction is between money announced nationally and money secured locally.
A successful cluster bid could support shared facilities, business scale-up, skills, commercialisation and links between universities and employers. A weak bid could simply repackage existing activity without solving familiar barriers such as laboratory space, later-stage investment and routes into well-paid jobs.
Brighton Locals’ view
Our assessment: moving some innovation decisions closer to regions is potentially positive, particularly where universities and local firms already collaborate. However, the current announcement is a framework rather than a Sussex result. Local leaders should publish a clear prospectus before claiming a benefit: the target sector, partners, money requested, measurable jobs and the additional activity the funding would buy.
What to watch next
- UKRI’s detailed criteria and timetable for the £1bn cluster programme.
- Whether Sussex can enter the competitive Local Innovation Partnerships Fund strand.
- Which organisation would lead a Sussex bid and how Brighton, East Sussex and West Sussex would share priorities.
- Evidence of matched investment, facilities, skills and commercial demand.
- Publication of award decisions rather than political expressions of interest.
What local organisations should do
Universities, innovation businesses and local authorities should monitor UKRI’s funding pages, map existing projects against the eventual criteria and identify gaps before a call opens. Businesses should not budget on the assumption that grant money is guaranteed.
Bottom line: £1bn is now promised nationally, but Sussex still has to prove its case and win a defined share.
Featured image: official 2026 portrait of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who announced the funding package. House of Commons, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Archive image.
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