Speaking at the London Tech Week 2023– UK’s biggest tech conference– Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned that his goal is clear: “act quickly to retain the UK's position as one of the world’s tech capitals”.

PM Rishi Sunak Unveils ‘Big Tech Plan’ With Focus On Visas, Tax-reforms And R&D Investments At London Tech Week 2023

Febin MathewJune 12, 23 AI, Artificial Intelligence, London, Rishi Sunak

During the London Tech Week 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed a sense of urgency and responsibility to capitalize on the potential of AI-driven technology in order to establish the UK as the leading country in the tech industry. He emphasized the need to act quickly to maintain the UK’s position as one of the world’s tech capitals and outlined his priority to invest in emerging technologies such as AI, quantum, synthetic biology, and semiconductors to boost the country’s economy.

“I believe that the UK can achieve this goal because we are starting from strength. We’ve created 134 unicorns in the past decade – the third most in the world, behind only the US and China. We are one of the most digitally literate societies in the world, with a higher proportion of STEM graduates than the US and four of the world’s top 10 universities,” said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Speaking about turning this goal into reality, he said: “This government is building the most pro-investment tax system, increasing public R&D investment to record levels and making our visa system for international talent one of the most competitive in the world. We are reforming our IPO rules to make it easier for companies to raise public funding, and changing our pension rules to unlock new private capital .

He went on to add, “I created a new science, innovation and technology department with a mission to do things differently – from bringing in world-leading experts to supporting innovation to taking bigger risks. And when that moment came, it was this board that stepped in to save Silicon Valley Bank .”

Looking at key UK tech business statistics, it is claimed that jobs in the wider digital tech economy will account for around 14 per cent of the UK workforce, or 4.7 million people, in 2022. On average, tech salaries are almost 80 per cent higher than non-tech jobs in the UK, £62,000 compared to £35,000 in Q1 2022

The UK technology and digital ecosystem is set to be worth more than $1 trillion in 2022, more than 17 times the value of a decade ago. Great Britain is the third country in the world after the United States and China.

“If our goal is to make this country the best place in the world for technology, artificial intelligence is certainly one of the biggest opportunities in front of us,” he said.