As the hard date for Brexit approaches, the U.K. government announced it would invest £100 million ($130 million) to attract 1,000 new Ph.D. placements at universities across the country focused on artificial intelligence development, including for the life sciences industry. During his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the head of Her Majesty's Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, described the move as a way to help futureproof the U.K. economy going forward. The money is part of the country's Industrial Strategy and will fund research into technology for NHS hospitals, among other areas of the wider economy. According to the U.K. government, the country's digital sector has topped £130 billion and 2 million people, with the number of jobs growing at twice the rate of other segments. And, according to the Association for the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the U.K. serves as the third-largest life sciences R&D center, after the East and West coasts of the U.S. RELATED: Study says U.K. pipeline of advanced therapy research and products gaining strength "Today's investment will help our members get the talent they need to discover the treatments of the future," the ABPI's chief scientific officer, Carole Longson, said in a statement.