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UK Government's £42m for Big Data Institute
In the UK, Chancellor George Osborne has announced funding of £42 million over five years for a new institute dedicated to ensuring Britain 'leads the way' in the use of big data, named after Second World War codebreaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing.
Announced in the budget speech, the funds for the Alan Turing Institute are part of a £222 million Government science package which also includes £74m towards a new cell therapy manufacturing centre and graphene innovation centre; and £106m for around twenty new centres for doctoral training.
UK universities will be invited to bid to host the national facility and receive the funds.
Osborne said the institute honoured a man who was persecuted for his sexuality by the country he helped to save. Turing, a brilliant mathematician, lived in Osborne's constituency of Tatton, Cheshire and worked at Britain's code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park during the war, but was convicted in 1952 of the then offence of gross indecency. He was given a posthumous Royal Pardon just three months ago.
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