The government says the funding is to help:

 

• The South West become one of the best places in the world to develop, test and use autonomous technology like drones on land, at sea and in the air.
• Bring together the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor’s strengths in autonomous vehicles, high‑performance engineering and space technology.
• Support Greater Lincolnshire in turning its mix of agri‑tech and defence expertise into real‑world products and growing businesses.
• Support two connected clusters in South-West Wales:
  • Energy security - helping scale offshore wind, hydrogen and cleaner industrial energy using the region’s ports and infrastructure.
  • Materials security - developing new ways to recover, recycle and process critical materials so UK manufacturers rely less on imports.
• Help East Midlands manufacturers to scale up clean energy and advanced production technologies. New testing and validation facilities, alongside supply‑chain and commercialisation support, will help smaller firms work with global manufacturers and bring new products to market.
• Jointly support the regions of East Yorkshire and Hull, and separately Tees Valley, with up to £30mln to support those regions working on a powerful clean energy and industrial decarbonisation programme that brings together the strengths and opportunities across them.