The Grand Challenge missions
Updated 26 January 2021
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The Industrial Strategy sets out Grand Challenges to put the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future.
As part of our approach we are developing ambitious missions to tackle these Grand Challenges. Each mission will focus on a specific problem, bringing government, businesses and organisations across the country together to make a real difference to people’s lives.
Read the Commission for Mission Oriented Innovation and Industrial Strategy (MOIIS) report.
Artificial Intelligence and data
We will put the UK at the forefront of the AI and data revolution.
Mission: Use data, Artificial Intelligence and innovation to transform the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases by 2030
Using AI and data, there is an opportunity to accelerate medical research in early diagnosis, leading to better prevention and treatment of disease. Within 15 years better use of AI and data could result in over 50,000 more people each year having their cancers diagnosed at an early rather than late stage. This would mean around 20,000 fewer people dying within 5 years of their diagnosis compared to today.
This mission aims to put the UK at the forefront of the use of AI and data in early diagnosis, innovation, prevention and treatment. Success in this mission is one of a number of steps towards saving lives and increasing NHS efficiency by enabling earlier diagnosis and reducing the need for costly late stage treatment. The opportunity - working with academia, the charitable sector, and industry and harnessing the power of AI and data technologies - is considerable. It should lead to a whole new industry of diagnostic and tech companies which would drive UK economic growth.
The mission builds on the £210 million of funding announced for the Data to Early Diagnostics and Precision Medicine Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Progress so far
We have:
- established a new joint unit, NHSX bringing together world-leading tech, digital, cyber and data experts to transform the NHS and care sector into the world’s most advanced health and care system
- published the Code of conduct for data-driven health and care technology with input from NHS, academic and industry partners
- produced the AI State of the Nation survey, showing how AI is already benefitting the health and care sector, and identifying some of the barriers to wider deployment
- published the results of the follow-up survey in our report, Artificial Intelligence: How to Get it Right
- supported innovative technologies with around £100 million of government funding, including,
- launching the Digital Health Technology Catalyst, a £35 million fund provided by government over 4 years to support the development of a range of exciting digital interventions from across the UK
- announced improvements to the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) to become the new umbrella organisation for UK health innovation, acting as the ‘front door’ for innovators looking to get their products funded
- launched 5 centres of excellence in digital pathology and radiology, which will put the UK at the forefront of the application of AI and machine learning to improve diagnosis and deliver precision treatments
- launched a competition for new Digital Innovation Hubs with an investment of £37.5 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund
Next steps
We will be:
- investing an additional £50 million in our digital pathology and radiology programme as a first step towards making the Centres of Excellence into a truly national asset to support early and improved diagnosis across the UK and deliver more efficient NHS services
- introducing Local Health and Care Record Exemplars, allowing data to be accessed as patients move between different parts of the NHS and social care
- working with health and care regulators, the Better Regulation Executive and wider government to ensure that our regulatory system supports innovation without compromising on patient safety
- developing a set of tools to help technology sellers comply with principle 7 of the code of conduct
Ageing society
We will harness the power of innovation to help meet the needs of an ageing society.
Mission: Ensure that people can enjoy at least 5 extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035, while narrowing the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest
We are living longer lives because of medical advances, better drugs, healthier lifestyles, and safer workplaces. A girl born in the UK today has a 1 in 3 chance of living to 100, and the chance of living to 100 will double in the next 50 years. Given this trend, it’s time to radically rethink how we respond, at each stage in life, to the way that we support our families and communities, as well as the way that we approach work, finances, health and care, and housing.
This mission aims to ensure that people can enjoy at least 5 extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035, while narrowing the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest. Success in this mission will help people remain independent for longer, continue to participate through work and within their communities, and stay connected to others to counter the epidemic of loneliness.
The mission will help:
- support people to remain at work for longer
- build markets for consumer products and services that better meet the needs of older people
- drive improvements in public health and innovation across the social care sector
Progress so far
We have:
- announced £98 million of investment through the Healthy Ageing Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to stimulate well-designed innovations that support people to enjoy active and independent lives for longer. Competitions to apply for the funding are live – business and university consortia are welcome to apply. Find out further details on the funding opportunities.
- announced Andy Briggs as the Business Champion and plans to establish a UK Longevity Council to help the UK seize the economic opportunities of ageing societies
- launched a joint UK–Japan competition to support British and Japanese businesses to harness AI and robotics to develop and showcase a new generation of assisted living products
- announced plans to launch a ‘Home of 2030’ design and innovation competition later this year – with the Clean Growth Grand Challenge - which will seek to prototype the homes of the future, that are built to a standard suitable for the changing needs across a lifetime, whilst also being environmentally sustainable
- published Greater Manchester’s Local Industrial Strategy with a focus on seizing the opportunities of an ageing population building on its status as the UK’s first World Health Organisation Age Friendly city-region
- part-funded the new National Innovation Centre for Ageing in Newcastle, which is due to open later this year
- announced over £130 million of investment to support healthcare innovation, including £69.5 million through UKRI’s Strategic Priorities Fund to unlock new treatments that allow people to lead healthier and longer lives
Clean growth
We will maximise the advantages for UK industry from the global shift to clean growth.
Mission: At least halve the energy use of new buildings by 2030
Heating and powering buildings accounts for 40% of our total energy usage in the UK. By making our buildings more energy efficient and embracing smart technologies, we can cut household energy bills, reduce demand for energy, and boost economic growth while meeting our targets for carbon reduction.
For homes this will mean halving the total use of energy compared to today’s standards for new build. This will include a building’s use of energy for heating and cooling and appliances, but not transport.
This will be achieved by:
- making sure every new building in Britain is safe, high quality, much more efficient and uses clean heating
- innovating to make low energy, low carbon buildings cheaper to build
- driving lower carbon, lower cost and higher quality construction through innovative techniques
- giving consumers more control over how they use energy through smart technologies
- halving the cost of renovating existing buildings to a similar standard as new buildings, while increasing quality and safety
The mission is backed by £170 million of public money through the Transforming Construction Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. This is matched by £250 million of private sector investment, meaning over £400 million will be invested in new construction products, technologies and techniques.
Progress so far
We have:
- published the Construction Sector Deal
- established the Active Buildings Centre with £36 million investment from government and industry to develop new building materials which generate electricity from light and heat
- invested £72 million to establish a Construction Innovation Hub, a partnership between the Manufacturing Technology Centre, Building Research Establishment and the Centre for Digital Built Britain, to support research into developing and commercialising digital design and offsite manufacturing technologies
- committed to adopt the new Future Homes Standard by 2025 to ensure all new homes are future-proofed with low-carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency
- launched supply chain pilots worth up to £3 million to test different approaches to increase the rate of energy efficiency improvement by supporting local supply chain integration and project coordination
Next steps
We will be launching:
- a design competition for the Home of 2030 to encourage innovation in the design and delivery of higher quality, more energy efficient housing that also addresses the needs of an ageing population
- a consultation on improving energy performance standards for buildings through changes to Part L of the Building Regulations
- an innovation competition to demonstrate a cost reduction trajectory in whole house retrofit
Mission: Establish the world’s first net-zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040 and 4 low-carbon clusters by 2030
This mission will be achieved by:
- reducing emissions in 1 cluster to net-zero by 2040
- in 4 industrial clusters, by 2030:
- the low-carbon infrastructure needed to support industrial decarbonisation will be in place and operational, attracting new investment and innovation
- multiple industrial facilities will already have reduced their emissions, by the greatest possible extent
- positioning UK clusters as top areas for global inward investment and driving demand for low carbon products and technologies by harnessing the power of markets, the public sector, universities and local communities
Success in this mission would transform our industrial clusters into world leading low-carbon manufacturing hubs, safeguarding existing jobs and companies on which the prosperity of key regions depends.
It will further establish the UK’s position at the forefront of the global shift to Clean Growth by developing world-leading expertise in green manufacturing products, and the technologies and services required to produce them. The mission aims to attract inward investment, new business and employment opportunities.
It will support the cost-effective decarbonisation of our industrial sector, which accounts for around a quarter of all UK GHG emissions.
The mission is backed by £170 million public investment through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Next steps
The second phase of the IDC Cluster Plan competition provides up to £8 million investment for collaborative projects to plan their route to industrial cluster decarbonisation. An announcement on successful projects that secured a share of the funding was made on 2 January 2021, and development work will take place throughout the year.
Future of mobility
We will become a world leader in the way people, goods and services move.
Mission: Put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles, with all new cars and vans effectively zero emission by 2040
How we get around is going to change significantly in the future. New technologies, such as zero emission vehicles and self-driving cars, are improving transport to make it safer, cleaner and better connected.
This mission aims to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacture of zero emission vehicles and sets an ambition for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040. This will help improve the air we breathe, support the shift to clean growth, and help the UK seize new economic opportunities.
We are backing this mission with:
- support for innovation in clean ways of powering vehicles, including £1 billion over 10 years for development of low carbon powertrains through the Advanced Propulsion Centre, and £246 million for the Faraday Battery Challenge to develop safe, cost-effective and high-performance batteries for electric vehicles
- grants to help people buy ultra low emission vehicles, as part of a £1.5 billion investment between 2015 and 2021 to support the growth of this market
- investments in electric vehicle charging infrastructure and hydrogen vehicle refuelling stations
- an Automotive Sector Deal setting out how government and industry will work together to achieve this strategic vision
Our zero emission road transport strategy will set out in more detail the government approach to the transition to zero emission road transport.
Progress so far
We have:
- published the Road to Zero strategy setting out our comprehensive plans to support the transition to zero emission vehicles, including:
- our ambition for at least 50% — and as many as 70% — of new cars sold to be ultra low emission by 2030
- a commitment to massively expand electric and low emission vehicle infrastructure across the country
- hosted the world’s first Zero Emission Vehicle Summit in Birmingham, where:
- we announced a £100 million boost for R&D in zero emission vehicle technology
- industry announced £500 million of investment creating over 1,000 jobs across the UK, including; £200 million for EV Network, a UK-based charging station development company, and £50 million for a new Aston Martin facility in St Athan Wales
- launched the Poland-UK e-mobility declaration, at the UN climate COP24 negotiations, signed by nearly 50 governments
- passed the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act, giving the government new powers to improve the customer charging experience, require chargepoints to be smart and increase chargepoints at key locations
- invested £246 million in the Faraday battery challenge to drive innovation and scale-up facilities for batteries for electric vehicles, including a UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry
- announced £78 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (Stephenson Challenge) to drive the electric revolution