Tech hubs clustered around universities in England will benefit from almost £1bn in extra funding as part of a range of measures in the budget on Wednesday to boost business investment in the regions.
The chancellor will make the pledge to create 12 investment zones in eight areas “to drive business investment and level up” the country, each backed with £80m of government funding.
Jeremy Hunt will say that the zones will form the cornerstone of his efforts to “supercharge growth” to accelerate research and development in the “most budding industries”.
Eight existing and proposed combined authority areas across England have been shortlisted to host the zones, with the intention to agree plans with the combined authority mayors, individual local authorities and business groups by the end of the year.
