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Prime Minister backs UK science with £10m investment in DSIC

More accurate weather forecasts, more efficient transport systems and better treatments for cancer are just some of the benefits that could come from investment designed to position the UK at the cutting edge of computer development and enable a new testing facility for accelerator technology. The £10m investment was confirmed by Prime Minister David Cameron during a visit to the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus (DSIC) in August, where he also revealed that both Harwell Oxford and DSIC are two of 11 new Enterprise Zones across the UK.

The Science Vale UK Enterprise Zone in Oxfordshire, which comprises Milton Park and Harwell Oxford, home to STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory as well as the Diamond Light Source, is expected to bring in around 4,800 jobs to the area and generate up to £10.5m of additional business rates per year.

DSIC, which comprises STFC's Daresbury Laboratory, property investment company Langtree and Halton Borough Council, is set to create at least 30 new businesses by 2015, and attract a considerable number of high quality inward investment projects.

During his announcement at Daresbury, Cameron described how the Enterprise Zones will create jobs, growth and investment to create a bigger and stronger society, citing DSIC as an inspirational example of what great collaboration between public and private sector has and will go on to achieve.

Cameron also confirmed £10m of investment into STFC's Daresbury Laboratory at the Daresbury Campus, that will position the UK at the cutting edge of computer development and enable a new testing facility for accelerator technology. £7.5m of this will be used to upgrade the campus computing infrastructure to be able to host the next generation of high performance computing systems. This investment will enable the creation of next-generation simulation software and demonstrate a step change in the UK's ability to address key challenges and deliver new breakthroughs in science - from more accurate weather and climate prediction, to developing cleaner and more efficient energy sources and modelling new medicines.

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