05 December 2023
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has announced the government’s plan to ‘get Britain growing,’ with tax breaks for businesses permanently extended, and a further 110 growth measures announced.
Focusing on realising the benefits of AI, the government will be launching the first AI Safety Institute, backed by an initial £100 million investment. It will also be investing a further £500 million in compute for AI over the next two financial years, bringing the total planned investment in compute to more than £1.5 billion.
“The government’s continued commitment to strengthening the country’s position in AI through a further £500 million in funding will enable tech firms to bring cutting-edge products to market faster and ensure that Britain doesn’t lose its spot as a leader in Europe for this sector,” says Claire Trachet, CEO and founder of Trachet.
Moreover, the statement provides £121 million for the UK’s space sector, which will pave the way for new space clusters and infrastructure, delivering new capabilities in low Earth orbit (LEO) satcoms.
Darren Pearce, group CEO, TXO, highlights that while incentives and funding to support the expansion of connectivity in the UK will always be welcome, “the government must consider policies that ensure our networks are built with sustainability front-of-mind. We’re currently undergoing a once-in-a-generation network evolution that is seeing older technologies in both fixed and mobile networks rapidly replaced by future-ready 5G and fibre. As things stand, there is no requirement for operators to do this sustainably. The government must consider a holistic strategy.”
Meanwhile, to support innovative businesses to accelerate their growth and scale up, the government is extending the British Business Bank’s Future Fund: Breakthrough programme, which will provide at least £50 million additional investment in the UK’s most promising R&D intensive companies, as well as reforming R&D tax systems.
“It is too early to celebrate; we need to see what shape the reforms will take, and what types of R&D investment will be eligible,” cautions Al Lakhani, CEO of IDEE.
“Cybersecurity must be one such area, as it is imperative that companies are encouraged to invest in robust cybersecurity infrastructure. What’s more, it would have been positive to see investment in the provision of cybersecurity training, with the skills gap a major issue for UK businesses. Much more can be done to facilitate progress in cutting-edge cybersecurity, and the statement was a missed opportunity.”
The Chancellor also announced the need to reform public services, with an annual target to increase public sector productivity growth by 0.5% per annum. However, given its huge contribution to UK GDP, if the public sector has a chance of fuelling growth, innovation and increasing productivity, Steve Rafferty, VP international, RingCentral, urges the government to commit to its promise on increasing investment for businesses to drive this ambition forward. Currently, 40% of government workers are using at least 6-10 apps per week at work – hampering productivity - but 27% would strongly prefer to have their work communication and collaboration capabilities integrated into a single platform.
“To achieve optimum productivity levels, the government needs to support the public sector to double down on their tech implementation,” explains Rafferty. “Of those that would prefer a single solution, a quarter believe they could save 1-2 hours of time each day, positively contributing to increasing productivity goals sector wide.”
