Two of the Bristol area’s key industries – animation and aerospace – will benefit from measures announced in the Budget.
The Chancellor said a new UK centre for aerodynamics will open next year to encourage innovation in aircraft design and commercialise new ideas.
And, following intense lobbying by Bristol animators Aardman, tax breaks are to become available to animation studios.
Aardman, best known for Wallace & Gromit, had warned that some future productions would be made abroad unless it was given equal tax status as conventional movie makers.
Mr Osborne said: “The film tax credit, protected in our spending review, helped generate over £1bn of film production investment in the UK last year alone.
Today I am announcing our intention to introduce similar schemes for the video games, animation and high-end TV production industries.
“Not only will this help stop premium British TV programmes like Birdsong being made abroad, it will also attract top international investors like Disney and HBO to make more of their premium shows in the UK.
“It will support our brilliant video games and animation industries too.”
Poking fun at Labour leader Ed Miliband, often portrayed by cartoonists as the Plasticine hero, he pledged to “keep Wallace and Gromit exactly where they are”.
The chancellor also pointed out that the UK is the world’s second-largest aerospace industry in his Budget speech.
No details of the location of the centre for aerodynamics have been revealed. Bristol is already a key city for aero-engineering with world leaders such as Airbus, which has its main wing design and engineering centre at Filton, GKN, which makes high-tech wing parts at Filton and Avonmouth, and Rolls-Royce, which makes military jet and ship engines at Patchway.
Bristol will also benefit from a commitment to install superfast broadband – it is one of 10 cities to share a £100m fund.
The Chancellor also committed £100m of support, alongside the private sector, for investment in major new university research facilities.
He said the Government’s ambition was to “turn Britain into Europe’s technology centre”.
“To be Europe’s technology centre we also need the best technology infrastructure,” he said.
“Two years ago Britain had some of the slowest broadband speeds in Europe; today our plans will deliver some of the fastest – with 90% of the population having access to superfast broadband, and improved mobile phone coverage for rural areas and along key roads across the UK.
“But we should not be complacent by saying it is enough to be the best in Europe when countries like Korea and Singapore do even better.
So today we’re funding ultra fast broadband and wi-fi in 10 of the UK’s largest cities.
The Budget also backed the UK’s life sciences sector by cutting taxes on patents. It would “make this one of the most attractive places in the world to invent new medicines”, said Mr Osborne.
