With a new government in the House of Commons, a wave of changes in technology policy is expected.
Labour ministers from the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have already signalled their intention to get to work immediately, with a series of new announcements.
This week, DSIT said It would designate UK data centres as “critical national infrastructure” in a bid to attract new investment, as the tech sector was rocked last month after the government has put up to £1.3bn of funding on hold promised by the previous administration to support technology and AI projects.
So it seems more urgent than ever to have the ear of government officials. And some of the biggest tech companies on the planet, from Google and Meta to Tencent and OpenAI, have met with senior DSIT executives to present their views on how to craft policies on issues ranging from AI to payments regulation.
United Kingdom We combed through the department’s data on external staff meetings between January and March, the most recent period for which records are available, to find out who was invited to dinner and drinks at DSIT.
Among the more notable meetings, we noted that DSIT had dinner with Scale AI, the $14 billion California-based technology company that has a major partnership with the US Department of Defense; a dinner with London-based investment firm Deep Science Ventures; and a lunch with US IT company IBM.
DSIT has met several times with a number of Big Tech companies to hold a “discussion on the government’s digital and technology policy priorities.” They include Microsoft, Meta, Nokia, Google and OpenAI.
DSIT also met with Cambridge IT firm Riverlane to “discuss the UK’s options for purchasing a quantum computer” and held a “venture capital discussion” with billionaire Marc Andreessen’s venture capital firm a16z. Officials also met with Chinese tech giant Tencent “to discuss future priorities for AI.”
Even more intriguing, DSIT has arranged meetings with cigarette and vaping giant British American Tobacco for a “discussion of… successes, learnings (and) experiences.”
With the Labour Party conference just days away, new technology policy changes appear to be high on the agenda. For those looking to influence policymaking, now may be a good time to put a date on their calendar.
