British agency of perspective research projects (ARPA)

History

2021: The government of Great Britain selected $1 billion for creation of the agency on studying of the latest technologies

At the beginning of February, 2021 the government of Great Britain selected 800 million pounds sterling (about $1 billion) for creation of the agency for research and development of the latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence and Big Data.

The prime minister stated plans for creation of "The British agency of perspective research projects" (ARPA) in the pre-election manifesto of conservatives of 2019. It is supposed that Arpa will solve a problem of lack of support in the current ecosystem of financing of researches in Great Britain which is afraid to work with projects of high risk.

The government of Great Britain selected $1 billion for formation of the agency on studying of the latest technologies

The new research agency will have an opportunity to experiment with new models of financing for support of the advanced scientific developments here, in Great Britain, - said in the Ministry of business, power and industrial strategy.

Representatives of the University of Oxford were included into special scientific committee of the House of Commons for assessment of the plan of Arpa and noted that the government, as a rule, evades from "ambitious investments" for benefit of "additional achievements", being afraid to spend public funds for nothing. However, according to scientists, such approach is quite misleading. The analytical center Policy Exchange also considers that ministers, controlling expenses of parliament, should give to the new agency the chance to run risks.

The director of the new agency, ministers and the state control and audit administration should realize that the majority of projects do not achieve the goals and that activity of Arpa should be estimated not on failures, and on progress. The government should break off a vicious circle and to allocate at last funds to the most perspective people and projects where they worked - at the universities, research institutes or in the industry.[1]

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