Publicly funded science in the UK will have to get by with another period of fixed spending.
Chancellor George Osborne says he intends to keep the country's R&D budget at its current level through to the next election.
This figure, which amounts to about ?4.6bn per year, has been held flat since 2011.
The Chancellor made the announcement as part of the government's Spending Review delivered to Parliament.
He did, however, promise to increase capital expenditure - the money going into the laboratory infrastructure. This will almost double from the current ?0.6bn.
"Scientific discovery is first and foremost an expression of the relentless human search to know more about our world, but it's also an enormous strength for a modern economy," Mr Osborne told MPs.
Continue reading the main storyScience CSR at a glance
- Day-to-day science spend to remain at ?4.6bn
- Capital investment to rise from ?0.6bn to ?1.1bn
- Capital increase to rise with inflation to 2020-21
- Additional ?185m for Technology Strategy Board
- Commitment to funding high-priority projects
- e.g. Skylon spaceplane and Met Office supercomputer
"From synthetic biology to graphene - Britain is very good at it and we're going to keep it that way.
"I am committing today to maintain the resource budget for science at ?4.6bn, to increase the capital budget to ?1.1bn and to maintain that real increase to the end of the decade.
"Investment in science is an investment in our future. So, yes, from the next generation of jet engines to cutting edge supercomputers, we say, 'keep inventing, keep delivering'. This country will back you all the way."
The capital expenditure announcement was warmly welcomed by the scientific community. Capital investment took a heavy hit after the last election but was then largely restored through a series of subsequent announcements.
Mr Osborne says he now wants to see the science capital budget grow in line with inflation each year to 2020-21. This would provide stability for long-term planning. The Spending Review document, released by the Treasury, talks about committing to funding "high-priority projects", including the Sabre air-breathing jet-cum-rocket engine and a new supercomputer for the Met Office.
Continue reading the main storyChancellor eyes space technology
Mr Osborne says he wants to invest in the next phase of the Sabre project.
This is a revolutionary design for an air-breathing jet-cum-rocket engine. It would be fitted to a space vehicle that could take off and land like a plane, substantially reducing the cost of getting into orbit.
Sabre's key heat-exchanger technology has just passed an important review audited by the European Space Agency. Mr Osborne's investment would go towards the building of a demonstration engine and final design plans.
Although Sabre's technology is linked to a space plane, it would likely have many other applications, such as in existing gas turbine jet engines and in desalination plants
The "flat cash" settlement on day-to-day research will frustrate many scientific leaders, but many expressed the recognition that in difficult times the outcome could have been far worse.
Prof Sir Peter Knight, president of the Institute of Physics, said: "The announcement that the current science budget will be maintained at ?4.6bn is a welcome recognition of the importance of science as an engine for future growth, but it needs to be noted that inflation has already substantially eroded the value of funding for science in the UK, by 2-3% per annum since 2010's flat cash settlement."
Public science spending in Britain currently runs at about 0.65% of GDP, compared with an average of 0.8% for the G8 nations.
China is aiming to spend 2.5% of its GDP on research by 2020, South Korea is targeting 5% by 2022 and Brazil 2.5% by the same year.
Compared to the OECD group of developed nations, Britain's science spend is 7th in absolute terms but only 25th in percentage terms.
The UK government's science budget is largely handled by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which will see its overall budget reduced by 6%.
Mr Osborne confirmed in his Commons speech that responsibility and funding lines for the Medical Research Council would not be moved to the Department of Health as had been mooted.
Sir Paul Nurse, the current president of the Royal Society, said: "Last year, the chancellor came to the Royal Society and gave a speech that put science and innovation at the heart of long term sustainable economic growth. He was asked to provide the money to back that up and today he has done that.
"There is a growing consensus across parliament and in the business community that spending on science is an investment in the future. The government has protected its contribution and we now need to find ways to encourage greater commitment from industry, which is still under investing in research.
"In recent years science has suffered, as maintaining investment means a real terms cut due to inflation, but in the context of cuts elsewhere, science has been relatively protected. Today's announcement should be seen as a foundation for a long term strategy of increased investment."
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23065763#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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