Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has appointed Ilan Gur as CEO of the UK’s new Advanced Research and Invention Agency [ARIA], with talent investor and entrepreneur Matt Clifford named chair.
Gur’s role will involve setting the agency’s agenda, directing its initial funding of high-risk programmes, building an exceptional team of programme managers and engaging the domestic and international R&D sector.
Clifford will support Gur’s work as he takes up his new position on August 15, acting as the steward for ARIA’s effective governance, according to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy [BEIS].
ARIA’s mission will be to enable exceptional scientists and researchers to identify and fund transformational research that leads to new technologies, discoveries, products and services, which will maintain the UK’s position as a global science superpower and draw in leading talent from across the world to grow the country’s economy and develop for the future.
Dr Gur is buoyed in his role by his experiences managing research and innovations at Activate, a US organisation which he founded that helps scientists and engineers bring groundbreaking research to market.
Under Gur’s leadership, Activate has supported 142 fellows and catalysed the creation of over 100 science-based start-ups. Gur himself has built two science-based start-ups of his own and was part of the first cohort of Programme Directors in the ARPA-E agency, the US Department of Energy body which funds breakthrough innovations in the field of energy technology.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng commented: “The appointment of Ilan Gur as ARIA’s first CEO is a huge victory for the future of the agency, and for the UK. He has a distinguished track record in translating exceptional talent and ideas into commercial success, and his leadership will ensure the funding of high-risk programmes that will continue to push the boundaries of science and technology.
“Under Dr Gur’s leadership and with the support of the brilliant Matt Clifford, ARIA will ensure the benefits of research and development will be felt in our society and economy over the course of generations.
“By stripping back unnecessary red tape and putting power in the hands of our innovators, the agency has the freedom to drive forward the technologies of tomorrow.”
The model for the new ARIA is based on the successful US Advanced Research Projects Agency [ARPA], which helped drive the development of technological advancements such as GPS and the internet.
DARPA, the successor of ARPA in the US, funded mRNA vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as key antibody therapies.
Ilan Gur, the inbound CEO at ARIA, said: “I believe that ARIA can deliver the promise of a better future, not just for citizens of the United Kingdom but for the world.
“The opportunity to serve as ARIA’s founding CEO is a great honour and a great responsibility that I will work tirelessly to fulfil.”
The foundation of ARIA and its appointment of CEO and chair follows government plans set out in February last year for the establishment of the agency. It will fund high-risk and high-reward scientific research after the ARIA Act received Royal Assent in February 2022.
The Agency is expected to be fully established later in 2022.
The recruitment process is also underway to appoint ARIA’s non-executive directors and its first chief finance office.
Matt Clifford MBE, the newly appointed ARIA chair, said: “ARIA has the potential to create a new model for accelerating the scientific and technological breakthroughs that the world needs.
“I am honoured to have the opportunity to work with Ilan Gur to guide ARIA through its formative years and ensure its success.”
ARIA’s foundation comes as the government has made a wider commitment to increase public investment in R&D to £20 billion in 2024-2025, paving the way for it to hit 2.4 per cent of GDP by the year 2027.
Dame Ottoline Leyset, CEO of UK Research and Innovation [UKRI], commented: “The arrival of ARIA will further strengthen the UK research and innovation system. I am excited about the appointment of Ilan Gur and Matt Clifford as the founding CEO and chair. They will provide the expertise and energy required to make it a success and I am very much looking forward to working with them.
“ARIA will play a key role in diversifying the ways in which we back talented people and teams working on truly transformative ideas, wherever and whoever they are. Together we can build the dynamic, creative research and innovation system essential for the UK’s prosperity.”
Photo by UK Government on Wikimedia Commons
