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UK government abolishes Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to split responsibilities
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The UK government has dissolved the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, moving science policy into the new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
The Royal Society warns that placing science within a business-focused department may restrict its scope and prioritize short-term business objectives over basic research. This restructuring separates science policy from the Department for Education, which manages universities and higher education.
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Science policy is now housed within the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade under Secretary of State Jonathan Reynolds.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport now incorporates digital responsibilities previously held by the abolished DSIT.
Kanishka Narayan has been appointed Minister for Artificial Intelligence, operating across the Cabinet Office and the new business department.
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The UK government has restructured its science and technology oversight by abolishing the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Responsibilities are now split between the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the newly created Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. This move is intended to create a strategic center to drive economic growth and prevent science and technology from being treated as isolated issues.
Adopting this structure introduces a risk of deprioritizing basic research and infrastructure in favor of immediate commercial applications. Sir Paul Nurse of the Royal Society argues that science cuts across multiple sectors including defense, energy, and health, but may now be squeezed by a business-centric civil service. He specifically notes that the Secretary of State now manages nine policy areas, with only one dedicated to science.
The new arrangement creates a gap between science policy and the Department for Education, which oversees higher education and universities. This lack of connection may impact long-term stability in funding and strategy for the innovation pipeline. While the government claims this rewires the state for global leadership in AI, critics argue that separating AI from science neglects the role of AI in promoting scientific creativity.
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