(Bloomberg) -- The UK government is investing £320 million ($400 million) in domestic science and technology startups in a bid to attract private funding and speed up the expansion of Britain’s fast-growing industries.

Under the plan announced by the Treasury ahead of Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s set-piece Autumn Statement on Wednesday, the government hopes asset managers will invest £750 million alongside an initial £250 million government injection. That cash will go into two new funds that form part of a British Business Bank initiative to invest in science and technology.

The state will put another £50 million into Future Fund: Breakthrough, a £375 million venture capital wing of the BBB that provides scale-up finance for growth companies, the Treasury said Tuesday in a statement. A further £20 million is being pledged for university spin-outs.

Hunt said the commitment is part of a compact he signed with pension funds earlier this year to create a £75 billion wall of “productive finance” that will generate growth for the industries of the future.

“Innovation is the key to our future success as a nation and its vital that we do all we can to help companies start, scale and grow in the UK,” he said in the statement. The Autumn Statement, laying out the government’s new tax and spending plans, will be a “huge step” toward “unleashing the full potential of our pensions industry,” he said.

Hunt has said boosting business investment is a key priority, and the government is planning a package of pension industry reforms to release more capital to help deliver the growth that the country currently lacks. 

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