Image: Dave Guttridge, UK Biobank
Government matches contribution from Amazon Web Services, aiming to benefit medical research
The biomedical database known as UK Biobank is to receive a boost worth around £16 million to upgrade how it stores and uses health data.
Science and technology secretary Peter Kyle announced on 25 July that the cloud computing company Amazon Web Services will provide cloud computing credits worth $10m (£7.7m), which will be matched by £8m in funding from the government.
A statement from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said that this investment will benefit research into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases such as dementia, Parkinson’s and cancer.
The Amazon Web Services investment will also give UK Biobank access to storage and other services such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Private sector partnership
Kyle said the investment meant that UK Biobank has “the cloud infrastructure it needs” to underpin its activities.
The announcement adds to the £32m that had already been provided for the database by the government and two philanthropists: Eric Schmidt, former chief executive of Google; and Kenneth Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel.
Science minister Patrick Vallance said: “Advances in science and health succeed best when we work together—and that applies to close partnership with the private sector as well. Amazon Web Services’ contribution—recognising the unique value of UK Biobank’s work—shows the value these partnerships can unlock and precisely why we want to build even closer relationships to tackle healthcare challenges and unlock growth.”
Kyle added: “This is just the start of our plan to work hand in hand with industry and academia to harness the power of life sciences to grow our economy and boost healthcare.”