The UK must ‘get the basics right’ and help AI startups access capital, hire talent, and harness compute without introducing overly burdensome regulations to become a global AI leader, says a new report.
The AI Project – bringing together the Startup Coalition, think tank Onward, and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change – unveils its report today, laying out a roadmap to support a vibrant AI economy with 13 recommendations.
The report, ‘The UK’s AI Startup Roadmap’, welcomes UK’s attempts to position itself as a global leader on AI safety, but warns we could lose our competitiveness on AI without more support for the UK’s startups.
Amongst its proposals, the partnership calls on the Government to reform investment schemes like Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs); create AI visas to attract talent; and unleash a menu of private and public compute options.
Artificial intelligence promises to unlock economic growth and improve public services, but British start-up firms risk losing to international competition unless the Government does more to help foster them here, according to a new report by the AI Project, led by the Startup Coalition, Onward think tank, and Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
‘The UK’s AI Startup Roadmap’ draws on first-hand input from over 50 AI startup founders. It identifies four critical challenges to growing and succeeding: accessing capital, talent, and compute alongside navigating an unclear regulatory environment.
The report makes 13 key recommendations for the UK government to address the common difficulties faced by the UK’s AI startups and scaleups that if enacted will put the UK in prime position to succeed and cement its place as a global AI leader. These include:
Renew the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) beyond 2025, review investment schemes’ Financial Health Requirement, and increase HMRC’s capacity to tackle bureaucratic challenges.
Expand the High Potential Individual Visa to better target AI and startup talent, through a focus on bespoke sub-categories or entrepreneurial potential.
Unleash a menu of options to beef up the compute capacity our ecosystem can access - from increasing the UK Government’s Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) purchases, providing startups access to the National AI Research Resource, and fostering partnerships that take advantage of private cloud capacity.
Leapfrog our future competition in compute by supporting initiatives on R&D focusing on the commercialisation of new compute alternatives - through new acceleration programmes, a roadmap on how to navigate current compute, and more funding into the Advanced Research and Invention Agency.
Without these, the report warns, the UK risks losing both companies to more competitive environments such as the US.
Dom Hallas, Executive Director at Startup Coalition, said:
“The Government’s work on AI safety in general and the AI summit in particular is vital. But we want to highlight the other challenges facing the AI ecosystem - and show what it will take for the UK to not just have the safest AI ecosystem but the best one too.”
Kir Nuthi, Head of Tech Regulation at Startup Coalition, said:
“AI startups we talk to are clear that we need to get back to basics – accessing capital throughout their lifecycle, competing on compute and data infrastructure internationally, hiring and bringing the best and brightest talent possible, and navigating the regulatory environment. Nailing the fundamentals needs to be done alongside the Government’s work on AI safety – otherwise we don’t stand a chance of actually helping the AI businesses building in the UK or cementing the UK’s place as global AI leaders.”
Benedict Macon-Cooney, Chief Policy Strategist at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), said:
“AI presents significant opportunities to reimagine the state and better deliver prosperity and opportunity for citizens. The UK is well-positioned to be a global leader in doing exactly this.
“However, it’s clear from our conversations with founders that the government has serious gaps it must fill to build an environment that enables British startups to flourish. If they get this right, and take on the recommendations proposed in today’s paper, the UK will be the home of the next generation of AI unicorns, and see tangible benefits from the growth this unlocks.”
Allan Nixon, Head of Science and Technology at Onward, said:
“The Government is right to put the UK at the forefront of global AI safety. But we must remember that AI is also a fantastic force for good if we harness it right. The UK has a unique opportunity to lead on both fronts – but we can’t do that without unleashing our amazing AI startups.”