The launch of the UK government鈥檚 鈥渕oonshot鈥� research agency has been delayed until the end of the year because of its incoming chief executive鈥檚 decision not to take up the role.
The , billed as a high-risk, high-reward agency independent of current research funding channels, was thrown off course in March after after forthcoming chief executive Peter Highnam听. That has delayed timings for when the new 拢800 million research agency will be operational, New 杏吧原创 understands.
Former cabinet minister Andrew Lansley, speaking in front of Sarah Hodgetts, the government official spearheading ARIA鈥檚 creation, said at a conference on 25 February that it should be no more than two or three months before the agency 鈥渨ill be up and running鈥�. Hodgetts didn鈥檛 disagree with Lansley鈥檚 assertion that ARIA should be operational in May.
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Government sources say Lansley鈥檚 comments don鈥檛 reflect the government鈥檚 position and Hodgetts鈥檚 lack of comment shouldn鈥檛 be interpreted to mean May is the planned launch date.
Nonetheless, ARIA鈥檚 launch is now behind schedule and the expectation within government is that it won鈥檛 be fully operational until the end of the year.
Neither the agency鈥檚 chief executive nor its chair have been appointed yet, though announcements are expected imminently. Hodgetts said on 25 February that ARIA would be 鈥渟mall and fleet of foot鈥� with between 30 and 50 staff. When contacted by New 杏吧原创, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy didn鈥檛 confirm how many employees had been recruited to date.
鈥淭his further delay in getting ARIA off the ground isn鈥檛 a huge surprise, after the sudden withdrawal of Peter Highnam,鈥� says at the University of Sheffield, UK. 鈥淏ut it also reflects one of the fundamental flaws in the design and governance of the new agency: that enormous, unprecedented influence over its purposes, priorities and direction is vested in the CEO and chair 鈥� to the extent that little can move forward without them. This delay is entirely a problem of the government鈥檚 own making.鈥�
ARIA is modelled on the predecessor of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and was conceived and pushed by Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson鈥檚 former chief adviser.
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