The UK government is to create a new £150 million fund aimed at encouraging digital innovation and ensuring that the country becomes a world leader in terms of technology jobs.

Pledging to create an ideal environment in which hi-tech companies are able to thrive over the coming years, Gordon Brown revealed that the public sector investment will be supplemented by up to £1 billion worth of private sector funding in fields such as life sciences, biotechnology and digital manufacturing.

Furthermore, the prime minister expressed confidence that as much as £100 billion will be ploughed into the UK's burgeoning green energy sector, with more than 400,000 new jobs in the construction and engineering sectors alone set to be created as a result.

"These investments will strengthen our economy and create new jobs," Mr Brown told the House of Commons.

"And we believe investment by government and the private sector will enable the economy to create, over the next five years, 1.5 million new skilled jobs in Britain."

The news has already been welcomed by GlaxoSmithKline, which noted that the funding represents a "real step forward for UK science".