CBI calls for more TSB funding

The organisation emphasised the crucial role the agency has to play in successfully protecting innovation in the UK, and said it had been underfunded to date. Welcome the announcement, David Bott (pictured), director of innovation programmes at the TSB, said: "The CBI is a well respected organisation that is the voice of business in the UK – our key audience – and we welcome their announcement today. What this statement really highlights is that the TSB has an essential role to play as one of the crucial tools protecting the mechanics of innovation in the UK. "We use our funding to help businesses prosper and grow so that they can compete in a fast paced global marketplace. Increased support from government would mean that we can continue to keep the heart of innovation beating through even more of the best British businesses in the country today." David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, announced in May this year that the TSB had been allocated a record £440million budget. The news was welcomed by industry as a whole, with many agreeing that it would provide a boost to the UK's long term industrial strategy. Some however, including the EEF's chief economist, Lee Hopley, warned that the funding would need to be delivered as part of a wider, long term plan. "Record levels of innovation funding can't just be for this year," Hopley commented. "The Spending Review has to provide certainty as well as sufficient funding, to ensure these critical programmes are maintained over the long term."