Legal background
This Act sits alongside the following legislation:
Science and Technology Act 1965. This contains powers for the Secretary of State to fund research carried out by the Secretary of State or others and to set up research councils.
Industrial Development Act 1982. This contains powers for the Secretary of State to provide financial assistance to specific areas of the United Kingdom and to businesses more generally.
Higher Education and Research Act 2017. This established the statutory body United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) and contains powers for UKRI to carry out or support scientific research, including funding powers.
	This Act complements the existing legislative framework by creating a new body which has powers to:
carry out, commission, and fund scientific research;
support industry and encourage innovation by developing and exploiting the fruits of that research; and
collect and share scientific knowledge.
In exercising these powers ARIA has the discretion to take into account the significant benefits that can be achieved through tolerating a high risk of failure. That failure may be a failure of scientific research or a failure of the development or exploitation of scientific knowledge.