Osborne announces £75m in funding for tech-focused SMEs

Chancellor George Osborne told the Commons earlier today that technology-based SMEs will receive £75m to help develop, demonstrate and sell new products and services.

The announcement was made today as part of the government's Autumn Statement.

Osborne also alluded to an Innovation and Research Strategy, which the government will launch in the near future, that will offer support and incentives to promote innovation in the UK.

In addition to funding for technology-focused SMEs, the government will also invest £200m in science and £25m in "large-scale technology demonstrators".

It will also make above-the-line tax credits available (these will reduce the amount a company is taxed on net income) from 2013 in a bid to encourage research and development.

Osborne also re-stated his pledge to provide £145m for the high-performance computing industry to fund software, data storage and wide bandwidth networks.

In addition, the chancellor explained that he would make more public sector information available in the hope of creating new markets, products and services.

The government hopes the move will improve standards and transparency in the public sector.

The core public datasets are expected to include those related to transport, weather and health.

Some £10m will be dedicated to establishing the Open Data Institute, which will aim to help industry exploit opportunities created through the release of the datasets.