The fund for "New Industry, New Jobs" provides resources for the new competitiveness strategy published on Monday.

It will include £250 million to invest in low carbon business opportunities and innovation. This will include initiatives on low carbon vehicles, as well as the nuclear and renewable energy industries.

In addition,  £50 million extra will be made available for the Technology Strategy Board to significantly expand its work with business, fostering innovation and new technologies. The Technology Strategy Board has recently pledged to make £4 million available to British companies so that they can develop design and decision solutions to help construct greener buildings.

The £4 million funding competition will focus on the development, enhancement and integration of building design and decision tools to help achieve the government's tough target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions from buildings by 2050

Speaking at the launch of the competition, Dr Kerry Mashford, lead technologist at the Technology Strategy Board, said: "We [the UK] cannot meet its environmental targets without dramatically reducing carbon emissions from buildings. These account for 45% of the UK's total carbon emissions and to make greener buildings we must close the loop between building design, operation and performance, ensuring that the best guidance is available during the critical process of building design".