What does the UK’s new Digital Strategy mean for your business?

The UK Digital Strategy sets out the Government’s ambition and roadmap to ensure the UK is the best place in the world to start and grow a tech business. The strategy provides an important single vision from Government for the digital economy.

The CBI was both name-checked in the Strategy as a key partner for developing a pro-innovation regulatory regime and responded to the Strategy calling for government to have a laser focus on delivering this strategy and unlocking growth over the next few years. 

With the UK starting from a position of strength, we cannot afford to become complacent. The UK is now hot on the heels of the US for investment in tech this year and we are creating a new ‘unicorn’ company (a start-up worth over $1bn) every 11.5 days. With firms facing significant operational challenges- from labour shortages to inflation it’s more important than ever to continue supporting this bright spot in the economy.

There are six key themes in the Strategy: 

1 - Digital foundations

• Creating a light-touch, pro-growth regulatory regime that protects citizens while encouraging both investment and innovation. `
• Rolling out world class digital infrastructure across the UK, harnessing the power of data and creating a secure digital environment. 

2 - Ideas and intellectual property (IP)

• Growing government investment in R&D combined with tax incentives to stimulate private investment in innovation
• Growing expertise in technologies of the future, such as artificial intelligence, next generation semiconductors, digital twins, autonomous systems and quantum computing.
• Supporting innovation in the NHS: committed over £100 million to accelerate testing and evaluation of over 80 AI technologies through the NHS AI Lab.

3 - Skills and talent

• Strengthening the pipeline of tech talent from school to lifelong learning, and developing advanced digital skills – including a new Digital Skills Council to bring in private sector insight and collaboration.
• Visas to attract the brightest talent from around the world, including a Global Talent Network and new Scale-up visa from August 2022.

4 - Financing digital growth

• Keeping venture capital investment incentives under review including the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS).
• Encouraging UK capital including pension funds to be invested in British scale-ups to support long term growth. 
• Continuing to promote the London Stock Exchange as the best place for digital technology firms to list. 

5 - The whole UK: spreading prosperity and Levelling Up

• Supporting businesses in every region adopt the latest technologies and spread the benefits of a strong digital economy across the country. 
• Supporting access to public procurement opportunities 

6 - Enhancing the UK’s place in the world

• Promoting UK leadership in tech governance and values – including a new International Tech Strategy 
• Ensuring that new free trade agreements have a digital chapter (including zero-tariff digital trade, cross border data flows)

Overall, the strategy feels pro-business and heading in the right direction, providing clarity on government’s key digital priorities and a roadmap for action to help businesses plan and invest. However, the strategy so far doesn’t include much perspective on how government intends to leverage digital technologies to create UK strategic advantage in the long-run. 

Next steps:

The government named the CBI as key partner in developing a pro-innovation regulatory regime – If you would like be part of this conversation and hear more about our work on regulations like the Online Safety Bill, join our Digital Regulation Working Group.

You can also share your views on the Digital Strategy directly with Susannah (Head of Digital, CBI). 

Or else, why not join other digital working groups to network, share business insight and learn from leading experts?