With plenty of changes being rolled out to government loans and funding streams, HMRC have announced that the R&D scheme is being updated too. As we start 2021 with the wind in our sail, we look ahead to how these changes will be affecting the world of R&D.

With the government recently announcing changes to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan and Bounce Back Loan Schemes to reflect the ever-changing business landscape, we look at how these amendments impact a would-be R&D claim in 2021.

When we look back at 2020, it’s easy to see no further than the disruption and anguish that has been caused to many businesses and families, not just in the UK, but around the world too. However, it is out of these most testing of times where people are forced to rethink and reimagine the future, which is where new paths of discovery are found. The reality is, many of history’s greatest innovations came out of the most disruptive of times, after all, there is no rainbow without the rain.

The UK has planted its flag firmly on the renewable energy technology scene – and it’s not just blowing hot air. Right now, close to a third of the country’s energy comes from renewable sources. Of that, over half comes in the form of wind power.

Advanced manufacturing is more about how you think than what you make. Advanced manufacturing businesses are independent but integrated, globally active but conscious of their local environments. Most of all, they innovate – and with that innovation comes risk that must be managed.

In the fast-moving automotive sector, it’s no longer a question of whether business can afford to innovate. The new question is, how long can they afford not to?

There’s nothing like a crisis to focus the mind, and in the world of architecture the COVID-19 pandemic is throwing a sharp spotlight on architectural innovation. The impact of social distancing is a much broader topic than simply shuffling the furniture around inside a building and throwing up a few cautionary signs. Around the world, we’re starting to realise that keeping each other at arm’s length is an obstacle to be faced in every walk of life.

With 2030 presenting a hard deadline for mitigating the worst, most irreversible effects of global climate change, the clock is most definitely ticking. Given that the UK’s built environment is responsible for an estimated 45% of the country’s total carbon emissions on its own, it makes sense to focus a significant amount of attention, investment and innovation there.

All over the world, entire sectors are finding and refining ways to “green up their act” without sacrificing competitiveness or growth. The balance isn’t always an easy one to strike, but climate change is likely to go down as the defining challenge of our times so the pressure is only building.