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The UK government has shelved a £1.3bn plan for investment into tech and artificial intelligence (AI) projects.
Included in the funds were an £800m exascale supercomputer at Edinburgh University, and £500m set aside to invest in computing power for AI Research Resource.
While the funds were promised to their relevant institutions by set up by the previous Conservative government, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has said they were never allocated in its budget.
Difficult choices
“The government is taking difficult and necessary spending decisions across all departments in the face of billions of pounds of unfunded commitments. This is essential to restore economic stability and deliver our national mission for growth,” the DSIT said in a statement.
The Conservatives have retorted this point, stating that the DSIT had underspent, with shadow secretary Andrew Griffith saying, “As a point of fact, at the time the election was called, ministers had been advised by officials that the department was likely to underspend its budget for the current financial year.”
“Our commitment in government to science, research and innovation including UK leadership on AI was outstanding,” Griffith continued.
The supercomputer in Edinburgh, which the university had already spent £31m on building housing for the project, was expected to be 50 times faster than any other computer in the UK.
A page on the University’s website read, “Exascale will help researchers model all aspects of the world, test scientific theories and improve products and services in areas such as artificial intelligence, drug discovery, climate change, astrophysics and advanced engineering.”
Speaking to BBC News, director of technology and innovation at techUK, Sue Daly, said, “Investment in large scale computers is vital for the scientific breakthroughs that will grow our economy and improve our lives. The UK had sent clear signals about its ambitions to host a new generation of computers to enable cutting edge research, including in AI.”
“In an extremely competitive global environment, the government needs to come forward with new proposals quickly. Otherwise, we will lose out against our peers,” Daly concluded.
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