£145m to improve Britain's e-infrastructure

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced £145m to improve Britain's e-infrastructure.

This will drive growth and innovation across a range of sectors that rely heavily on computing including manufacturing, engineering and design.

It will also provide industry with the latest technology and facilities, giving reassurance that Britain is a great place to do business and encouraging further private sector support.

Software development, computer power, data storage, wide bandwidth networks, cyber security and authentication and people and skills will benefit from the investment.

Universities and Science Minister David Willetts said: "Significantly improving computing infrastructure is vital to driving growth and giving businesses the confidence to invest in the UK. It has the potential to significantly improve the design and manufacturing process, encouraging innovation across a whole range of sectors."

"The investment will also be of enormous benefit to our world-class research base. It will enable universities to carry out highly sophisticated research and archive more data, keeping us at the very leading edge of science."

Further information:
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills