Today (23 June) marks one year since the UK government launched the Industrial Strategy’s Digital & Technologies Sector Plan, which contains over 50 commitments to support and grow the UK’s tech sector. Drawing on government announcements, feedback from techUK members, and Public First polling, we assess the progress of the D&T Sector Plan and make recommendations for its second year.
Overall, early implementation – with the notable exception of electricity support for digital infrastructure – is broadly encouraging. However, for the D&T Sector Plan to generate tangible, long-lasting impact in the tech sector, policy stability and certainty are now required. Therefore, on the day after Keir Starmer announced his resignation as Prime Minister, techUK calls on the next government to maintain its commitment to the ten-year D&T Sector Plan and continue to play an active and strategic role in developing the UK’s tech sector.
Implementation is broadly positive…
As techUK’s D&T Sector Plan Tracker shows, implementation of the government commitments has been good over the first year. 60% of the Plan’s commitments have been implemented, just 5% of commitments have not been implemented, with the remaining 35% partially implemented.
Almost £4 billion in R&D funding allocated to the Plan’s six frontier technologies, part of the government’s total £86 billion R&D investment between 2026/27 and 2029/30
Slowly but surely unlocking pension fund capital to drive investment in tech companies, through the British Business Bank’s British Growth Partnership Fund I and the passage of the Pensions Schemes Act 2026
Establishing the Global Talent Fund to support the relocation of international researchers to the UK
Up to £2 billion to invest in quantum technology development, skills and facilities, with £1 billion earmarked for procuring large-scale quantum computers
Setting up the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, backed by up to £500m, to develop innovation clusters across the UK
Despite this, there is a notable lack of progress in other areas:
Electricity – both costs and the speed of grid connections – is still a significant barrier for digital infrastructure
Government delayed its decision on AI and copyright, at a time when the UK’s international competitors are moving ahead with clearer enabling frameworks for AI innovation
Overall, however, the D&T Sector Plan has largely followed through on the commitments it set out.
…but impact remains uncertain
Implementation is the relatively easy part. Most of what the government has achieved so far – allocating funding, passing legislation, establishing programmes, publishing additional plans and strategies – are an essential and encouraging first step, but they focus on inputs and not outcomes. These initial achievements – which the government summarises in its D&T Sector Plan: Year One Update and deserves credit for – do not guarantee successful delivery of these policies. Implementation is not the same as impact.
Indeed, the tangible, real-world impact of the D&T Sector Plan on techUK’s members and the technology sector is still very uncertain. Based on feedback from members, just two of the Plan’s 13 areas of focus (15%) are already generating significant positive impact amongst the sector: access to finance and quantum.
On access to finance, the British Business Bank recently made a £100m commitment to Oxford Quantum Circuits, the BBB’s largest direct equity investment. This exceeds its commitment in the D&T Sector Plan to make “direct investment of up to £60m”. Additionally, the BBB – through its Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative – is making larger fund commitments, such as the recent £150m cornerstone commitment to Playground Global’s new UK-focused deeptech fund. Pension capital is reaching UK scale-ups, such as techUK member Wayve, via the British Growth Partnership Fund. The National Security Strategic Investment Fund and others have invested in Seraphim, a SpaceTech investment group. These examples of encouraging early impact appear to be broadly consistent with Public First polling (February-March 2026), commissioned by techUK, which found that a majority of UK tech businesses find access to finance easy (54%), although this varies between large businesses (67%) and SMEs (42%). Therefore, despite this positive initial impact, more work remains to be done on access to finance.
As for quantum, there seems to be genuine excitement amongst techUK members that the £2 billion quantum investment package – substantially more than the £670m commitment initially set out in the D&T Sector Plan – will enable the UK’s quantum sector to scale. The establishment of ProQure, the world’s first large-scale government procurement initiative for quantum computers, acts as a clear signal to industry and gives them the confidence to invest and innovate in the UK. Applications for ProQure’s first phase closed in May and contracts will be announced in October. Although some techUK members have called for a clearer breakdown of the £2 billion investment package and emphasise the need for greater focus on quantum skills, the early impact of the D&T Sector Plan on the quantum sector is largely encouraging.
Beyond access to finance and quantum, almost all of the Plan’s other areas of focus have seen some impact, but the full extent of this impact remains to be seen. For example, there is optimism amongst the sector around R&D – due to the record £86 billion public R&D investment between 2026/27 and 2029/30, including almost £4 billion allocated to the six frontier technologies – and this is expected to have a substantial impact soon. Under AI, some impact from individual interventions in the D&T Sector Plan is already visible, as the Sovereign AI (Sov/AI) Fund has taken direct equity stakes in three AI companies and signed compute agreements with six more. But it is too soon to know how the Plan’s full set of interventions will impact the AI sector, particularly given the very recent announcements on AI adoption and the ongoing uncertainty around AI Growth Zones and AI and copyright.
Only one of the Plan’s areas has produced a negative impact. The exclusion of digital infrastructure from accessing support for high electricity costs – supposedly one of the centrepieces of the Industrial Strategy – is consistent with the techUK-Public First polling. 37% of tech companies cite energy costs as the greatest weakness of operating in the UK, the highest in this category. This is reinforced by feedback from techUK members: data centres report that high UK electricity prices make it more expensive to operate a data centre in this country than in the United States, France or Sweden. In the telecoms sector, the cost of electricity constrains network upgrades and innovation.
The ‘gap’ between implementation and impact is not surprising – but stability is now key
A relatively high rate of implementation (60%) compared with a relatively low rate of impact (15%) is not a cause for concern. Many of the D&T Sector Plan’s interventions will take years to bear fruit: it is still too soon to tell the full impact of the Plan’s policies relating to R&D, skills, regulation or international partnerships, even if their implementation is broadly on track.
This is why policy stability and consistency are now crucial to ensure the D&T Sector Plan’s successful delivery and impact. There is one small caveat to this: it is important that the D&T Sector Plan acts as a “living document” and maintains some flexibility to adapt and respond to the evolving economic and technological landscapes. Nonetheless, the Industrial Strategy set out a clear approach and ten-year direction of travel to 2035 and this government – and its successors – must continue to adhere to it. This is reinforced by Public First’s polling: stable government policy is one of the most important factors in supporting business growth, selected by 20% of technology businesses.
What might ‘Manchesterism’ mean for the Industrial Strategy?
Keir Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister yesterday makes it likely that Andy Burnham will become the UK’s next Prime Minister. What would the former Mayor of Greater Manchester mean for the stability and longevity of the D&T Sector Plan and the broader Industrial Strategy?
Burnham’s actions and words as Mayor of Greater Manchester (2017-2026) provide us with several clues.
First, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) published five Sector Development Plans in November 2025, several months after the UK Industrial Strategy was launched. The GMCA’s five chosen sectors – Advanced Materials and Advanced Manufacturing; Creative Industries; Digital, Cyber & AI; Health Innovation & Life Sciences; Low Carbon – map very closely onto the national government’s eight Industrial Strategy sectors (IS-8). The Sector Development Plans explicitly refer to the importance of aligning the GMCA’s work with the national Industrial Strategy.
Second, in January 2026, at the launch of these Sector Development Plans, Burnham spoke of the need to “reindustrialise the birthplace of the industrial revolution [Greater Manchester]”. This would require government to adopt a “new, more assertive and confident…interventionist approach”.
Third, in his first term as Mayor in 2019, Burnham and the GMCA collaborated with the UK government to publish Greater Manchester’s Local Industrial Strategy. This shows that Burnham has a relatively long-standing interest in the role that government – both national and regional – can play in developing strategic parts of the economy.
From all this, we can infer that Burnham recognises the value of an active state and has a track record of supporting strategic sectors and technologies through targeted industrial policy. techUK would urge a hypothetical Prime Minister Burnham – or whoever succeeds Keir Starmer – to stick with the D&T Sector Plan and UK Industrial Strategy; in the face of political instability, policy predictability for the Strategy is essential.
The Industrial Strategy has strengthened some policymaking coherence and clarity…
Greater Manchester’s Sector Development Plans are just one example of the Industrial Strategy influencing other areas of policymaking. Increasingly, the UK Industrial Strategy – and the IS-8 sectors – are becoming a ‘golden thread’ for government policy. For example, the government’s AI Adoption Summit on 8 June focused on accelerating adoption throughout the IS-8. Innovate UK’s business support “will focus on six of the eight Industrial Strategy priority sectors”. The forthcoming Scale-Up Concierge Service is also expected to target the IS-8. There are many other instances of this occurring throughout the different levels of government.
Some techUK members reported that the framework of the Industrial Strategy is making it more straightforward to engage with government policy or access support. This represents an intangible benefit of the Industrial Strategy, which complements the more tangible impacts of the D&T Sector Plan outlined above. Such policy coherence must now be allowed further time to embed itself.
…but tensions and inconsistencies in government policy persist
Despite the ‘golden thread’ of the IS-8, a frustrating lack of coordination still exists between different strands of government policy. Three glaring examples stand out.
First, according to the D&T Sector Plan, the government appears committed to “attracting top tech talent to the UK” including through the £54m “Global Talent Fund designed to attract world-class researchers, together with their teams, to move to the UK.” However, this ambition is undermined by contradictory parallel reforms to the immigration system that are making it more complex, costly, and time-consuming for skilled migrants, and their dependants, to come to, work in, and settle in the UK, potentially acting against the goal of attracting and retaining the very talent the Fund is designed to bring in.
Second, through the D&T Sector Plan, the government commits to “an enduring partnership with business” and reforming the “business environment”. However, unhelpfully, the current government has raised employment costs (e.g. by increasing the rate of employer National Insurance contributions, while lowering the threshold at which employer NICs is charged) and business rates on much of the tech sector. This helps to explain why, according to Public First’s polling, 56% of tech businesses say the current UK operating environment makes expanding their business challenging and 27% believe the operating environment has got harder in the past year. Relatedly, 36% of tech businesses name the high level of tax as the greatest weakness of operating in the UK, the second-biggest concern.
Third, the D&T Sector Plan emphasises the important links between the technology and defence sectors. Similarly, the Strategic Defence Review (June 2025) and Defence Industrial Strategy (September 2025) highlight the need to invest in cutting-edge technologies to strengthen the UK’s defence and national security. However, the repeated delays to the Defence Investment Plan and the government’s unwillingness to meaningfully increase defence spending risk harming the defence technology sector and damaging business confidence.
The Industrial Strategy does not exist in a vacuum. Its implementation and impact are also determined by other government policies. It is therefore critical that government becomes more joined up and starts pulling in the same direction.
Conclusion & Recommendations
As the D&T Sector Plan enters its second year, techUK makes four recommendations to the government – and its possible successors – to improve the Plan’s delivery and drive impact:
Re-commit to a genuinely long-term approach. Impact takes time, so it is important to insulate the ten-year D&T Sector Plan from policy instability and, as far as possible, political change.
Drive down energy prices for digital infrastructure, for example by moving all levies from energy bills to general taxation. According to techUK-Public First polling, 37% of tech businesses called for support with their energy prices, the second-most popular policy request.
Accelerate AI adoption throughout the economy. Technology is a priority sector in its own right; it is also a key enabler of growth in other sectors of the economy and the widespread adoption of technologies such as AI is core to this. The government must build on the commitments of the recent AI Adoption Summit to drive responsible AI adoption throughout the IS-8 sectors, leveraging the new AI Adoption Coalition convened by techUK and seven other trade associations.
Improve cross-government coordination, to reduce contradictory and inconsistent policies that harm the D&T Sector Plan.
The prize is there for the taking. If the UK improves its business environment – including through the full and proper delivery of the D&T Sector Plan – 74% of tech firms say their business would grow and 65% say they would increase headcount. And when the tech sector grows, so does the rest of the economy: 91% of tech businesses and 85% of non-tech businesses believe the tech sector plays a significant or vital role in driving UK economic growth.
Industrial Strategy One Year On: Reviewing the Digital & Tech Sector Plan
On 16 July from 13:00 – 14:30, techUK will convene a roundtable with a senior government representative (TBC) from DSIT or DBT and leaders from across the tech sector to review the implementation of the Government’s Digital & Tech Sector Plan, one year on from its publication.
Unless otherwise specified, all polling refers to polling commissioned by techUK and conducted by Public First between 24 February and 6 March 2026. Public First polled 531 businesses (275 tech businesses and 256 non-tech). More information can be found here and full results can be found here.
techUK's Policy and Public Affairs Programme activities
techUK helps our members understand, engage and influence the development of digital and tech policy in the UK and beyond. We support our members to understand some of the most complex and thorny policy questions that confront our sector. Visit the programme page here.
Industrial Strategy One Year On: Reviewing the Digital & Tech Sector Plan
Join us on 16 July, 13:00–14:30, as techUK convenes a roundtable with a senior government representative from DSIT or DBT and tech sector leaders to review the Government's Digital & Tech Sector Plan, one year on from its publication.
Our members develop strong networks, build meaningful partnerships and grow their businesses as we all work together to create a thriving environment where industry, government and stakeholders come together to realise the positive outcomes tech can deliver.
Antony Walker is deputy CEO of techUK, which he played a lead role in launching in November 2013.
Antony is a member of the senior leadership team and has overall responsibility for techUK’s policy work. Prior to his appointment in July 2012 Antony was chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), the UK’s independent advisory group on broadband policy. Antony was closely involved in the development of broadband policy development in the UK since the BSG was established in 2001 and authored several major reports to government. He also led the development of the UK’s world leading Open Internet Code of Practice that addresses the issue of net neutrality in the UK. Prior to setting up the BSG, Antony spent six years working in Brussels for the American Chamber of Commerce following and writing about telecoms issues and as a consultant working on EU social affairs and environmental issues. Antony is a graduate of Aberdeen University and KU Leuven and is also a Policy Fellow Alumni of the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge University.
Associate Director - Skills & Talent Policy, techUK
Nimmi Patel
Associate Director - Skills & Talent Policy, techUK
Nimmi Patel is the Associate Director - Skills & Talent Policy at techUK. She works on all things skills, education, and future of work policy, focusing on upskilling and retraining. She is a member of the UK government's Digital Skills Council, an external advisory body within the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT), which provides expert advice and fosters collaboration to address the UK’s evolving digital skills needs and ensure the workforce is equipped for the digital economy. Nimmi is also an Advisory Board member of the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (digit). The Centre’s research aims to increase understanding of how digital technologies are changing work and the implications for employers, workers, job seekers, and governments.
Prior to joining the techUK team, she worked for the UK Labour Party and New Zealand Labour Party, and holds an MA in Strategic Communications at King’s College London and BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Manchester. She also took part in the 2024-25 University of Bath Institute for Policy Research Policy Fellowship Programme and is the Education and Skills Policy Co-lead for Labour in Communications.
Doniya Soni-Clark is Associate Director of External Affairs at techUK, where she leads the organisation's relationships with key political stakeholders and ensures the voice of the UK tech sector is heard loud and clear - in Westminster, Whitehall, and beyond. She is responsible for shaping techUK's political engagement strategy and representing members' interests to media, translating complex tech policy into compelling narratives that cut through.
With a career spanning public affairs, public policy, and industry advocacy, Doniya brings a combination of political instinct and policy depth. She began her career at Westbourne Communications before joining techUK in 2015 as Policy Manager for Skills — her first stint at the organisation. She then moved to the Greater London Authority as Principal Policy Officer, before spending seven years at Multiverse, the fast-growing British Edtech scale-up, as Head of Policy and Public Affairs. Her return to techUK brings that experience full-circle.
Doniya is a committed advocate for the UK's tech ecosystem and understands what it takes to grow a business in a complex regulatory and political environment - having lived it from the inside.
Doniya holds an MSc in Public Policy from the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics & Politics from the University of Exeter.
Tom McGee is Associate Director for Government Affairs, with a particular focus on techUK’s Digital Economy workstream and Nations & Regions programme.
Tom joined techUK in 2026 from the OECD’s Science, Technology & Innovation Directorate, where he specialised in semiconductors policy, providing analysis and recommendations on industrial policy and supply chain resilience to the OECD’s member countries and partner economies. Tom also has considerable experience in the UK Civil Service, as a Senior Policy Advisor (at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Cabinet Office) and Ministerial Private Secretary (Department for Education).
Tom holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University, where his studies were generously funded by the Knox Memorial Fellowship. His Master’s thesis – on AI chips and industrial policy – was awarded the Harvard Kennedy School’s top prize for outstanding policy analysis. Tom also holds a BA from the University of Cambridge.
Edward leads the Digital Economy programme at techUK, which includes our work on online safety, fraud, and regulation for growth initiatives.
He has prior experience working for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and has previously worked for a number of public affairs consultancies specialising in research and strategy, working with leading clients in the technology and financial services sectors.
Samiah Anderson is the Head of Digital Regulation at techUK.
With over seven years of Government Affairs expertise, Samiah has built a solid reputation as a tech policy specialist, engaging regularly with UK Government Ministers, senior civil servants and UK Parliamentarians.
Before joining techUK, Samiah led several public affairs functions for international tech firms and coalitions at Burson Global (formerly Hill & Knowlton), delivering CEO-level strategic counsel on political, legislative, and regulatory issues in the UK, EU, US, China, India, and Japan. She is adept at mobilising multinational companies and industry associations, focusing on cross-cutting digital regulatory issues such as competition, artificial intelligence, and more.
She holds a BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of London, where she founded the New School Economics Society, the Goldsmiths University chapter of Rethinking Economics.
Matt is leading techUK’s work with members and stakeholders across the UK to increase the Local Digital Capital across the UK’s nation and regions, build communities and to ensure that digital technology plays a key part the post-COVID-19 levelling-up recovery.
Prior to joining techUK, Matt worked for several national education charities and membership bodies to develop their regional partnerships with schools, academy trusts, local authorities, and other stakeholders. He’s also worked with local authority leaders and other stakeholders to engage communities, work with elected members and improve public services.
He holds a BA in Politics from the University of York and an MA in International Relations from the University of Leeds. Away from work he’s a keen football fan and golfer.
If you’d like to find out more about our work in the nations and regions please get in touch with Matt:
Jake has been the Policy Manager for Skills and Future of Work since May 2022, supporting techUK's work to empower the UK to skill, attract and retain the brightest global talent, and prepare for the digital transformations of the future workplace.
Previously, Jake was the Programme Assistant for Policy. He joined techUK in March 2019 and has also worked across the EU Exit, International Trade, and Cloud, Data Analytics and AI programmes.
He also holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Sussex, as well as a BA(Hons) in International Politics from Aberystwyth University. During his time at Aberystwyth University, he won the International Politics Dissertation Prize.
Dani joined techUK in February 2025 as a Policy Manager in the Digital Regulation team.
Prior to this, Dani worked in political monitoring where she was a consultant for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. In this role, she developed a strong understanding of parliamentary procedure, closely following all of the major developments in the tech centre and working with several key stakeholders and regulators.
She has an undergraduate degree in History from the University of Bristol and an MPhil in Modern European History from the University of Cambridge.
Outside of tech, Dani has a strong interest in addiction policy, particularly towards drugs, having written her dissertation on the topic as well as several subsequent research projects. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and following all things motoring, whether that be F1, MotoGP or Formula E.
Programme Manager – Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK
Luke Newcombe
Programme Manager – Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK
Luke joined techUK in September 2025 as a Programme Manager for Local Public Services and Nations and Regions.
Luke works closely with members and stakeholders across industry and government at local, regional and national levels to support collaboration, drive innovation and strengthen tech-enabled public services. His work supports the development of strong local and regional tech economies by helping organisations to engage with public sector challenges, explore emerging technologies and build impactful partnerships.
Prior to joining techUK, Luke worked at Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government’s export development agency. He began by advising SMEs on export strategy to the UK and later focused on connecting Irish businesses with multinational organisations to foster strategic partnerships, drive international growth and support economic development.
Luke holds an MSc in Political Economy from the University of Amsterdam and a BA in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin.
Programme Manager, SME Engagement and Nations & Regions, techUK
Stephanie Barr
Programme Manager, SME Engagement and Nations & Regions, techUK
Stephanie is the Programme Manager for SME Engagement and Nations & Regions at techUK.
Working across the two programmes, Stephanie develops activities to support the growth and development of tech SMEs and engages with members and stakeholders more broadly to help strengthen regional tech economies.
Prior to joining techUK, Stephanie worked for a political events company and as a Senior Caseworker for an MP. She holds an MA (HONS) in Politics from the University of Glasgow.
Outside of work, Stephanie enjoys travelling, climbing and playing squash.
Oliver is a Junior Policy Manager at techUK, working across Public Affairs and Digital Regulation policy. He supports the organisation’s engagement with government and parliament, contributes to shaping techUK’s regulatory agenda, and plays a key role in coordinating political outreach, policy projects, and flagship events.
He joined techUK in November 2023 as a Team Assistant to the Policy and Public Affairs team, before stepping into his current role. He has been closely involved in efforts to ensure the tech sector’s voice is heard in the policymaking process.
Oliver holds a Master’s in Policy Research from the University of Bristol and a BSc in Policy from Swansea University. During his studies, he contributed to mental health research as a Student Research Assistant for the SMaRteN network.
Outside of work, Oliver is a keen debater and remains active in the UK debating community, having previously led the Swansea University Debating Union. He enjoys exploring complex issues from multiple perspectives and values clear, thoughtful communication in policy discussions.
Tess is a Junior Policy Manager at techUK. She joined techUK as an Policy and Public Affairs Team Assistant in November of 2024. In this role, she supported areas such as administration, member communications and media content.
Before joining the Team, she gained experience working as an Intern in both campaign support for MPs and Councilors during the 2024 Local and General Election, and working for the Casimir Pulaski Foundation on defence and international secuirty. She has worked for multiple charities, on issues such as the climate crisis, educational inequality and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). In 2023, Tess obtained her Bachelors of Arts in Politics and International Relations from the University of Nottingham.
Tom McGee is Associate Director for Government Affairs, with a particular focus on techUK’s Digital Economy workstream and Nations & Regions programme.
Tom joined techUK in 2026 from the OECD’s Science, Technology & Innovation Directorate, where he specialised in semiconductors policy, providing analysis and recommendations on industrial policy and supply chain resilience to the OECD’s member countries and partner economies. Tom also has considerable experience in the UK Civil Service, as a Senior Policy Advisor (at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Cabinet Office) and Ministerial Private Secretary (Department for Education).
Tom holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University, where his studies were generously funded by the Knox Memorial Fellowship. His Master’s thesis – on AI chips and industrial policy – was awarded the Harvard Kennedy School’s top prize for outstanding policy analysis. Tom also holds a BA from the University of Cambridge.
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