Budget continues Government support for technology

Chancellor George Osborne famously talked a year or so ago about taking graphene from the laboratory to the factory floor. While the UK has a strong scientific base for graphene, commercialisation efforts remain thin on the ground - and lag places like the Far East. The Chancellor admitted this in his speech, saying we should 'break the habit of a lifetime' and develop graphene commercially in the UK. Hopefully, more cash will mean more progress. But the announcement which caught most people's attention was the allocation of £42m to set up the Alan Turing Institute. "In his honour," said the Chancellor, "we will found the Alan Turing Institute to ensure Britain leads the way again in the use of big data and algorithm research. I am determined that our country is going to out compete, outsmart and outdo the rest of the world." It's not the first Institute named after Turing: Professor Donald Michie set up the Turing Institute in Glasgow in 1983 to pursue artificial intelligence research. There's also a Turing Institute in Finland, working in the medical field. We know the Turing money will be a five year investment. What we don't know is where the institute will be, how many researchers it will support and what themes will be followed.