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☆ How R&D Funding Is Making the UK a Global Leader in Science
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Sponsor Post | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Exscientia's growth was bolstered by government support: The company didn't take venture funding until 2019. Exscientia wouldn't be where it was, Taylor said, without the support of the UK higher education system and government funding. Martin Tangney, the chief scientific officer of Edinburgh-based Celtic Renewables, said the £11 million of funding his company received in 2015 from the UK government was "pivotal." Advertisement"We really believe … [that] basically, soon all drugs are going to be created with AI," Taylor said. AdvertisementClick here to find out more about how your business can benefit from Research & Development in the UK.

Persons: Ben Taylor, Achilles, Taylor, —, We've, Smith, Nephew, we've, Martin Tangney, isn't, ABE, you've, Tangney Organizations: Nasdaq, University of Dundee, AstraZeneca, COVID, Celtic Renewables, biosciences, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, Edinburgh Napier University, Government, Renewables, Research & Development, Insider Studios, UK's Department for Business & Trade, Innovation, Technology Locations: Oxford, UK, Edinburgh, Scotland, Ireland, Japan, America, India, Grangemouth

☆ UK Interior Minister Suella Braverman fired after she accused London police of political bias
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman attends the weekly government cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street on May 23, 2023 in London, England. LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday fired controversial Interior Minister Suella Braverman, as he begins a reshuffle of his top cabinet. In a shock move, former Prime Minister David Cameron was announced as the new foreign minister. "While I have been out of front-line politics for the last seven years, I hope that my experience – as Conservative Leader for eleven years and Prime Minister for six – will assist me in helping the Prime Minister to meet these vital challenges." Braverman drew widespread criticism last week after printing an op-ed in The Times newspaper that ignored guidance from Downing Street and accused London police of political bias in policing protests.

Persons: Suella Braverman, Rishi Sunak, James Cleverley, David Cameron, Cameron, Braverman, Liz Truss, Israel's, Sunak, Conservative frontbencher Paul Bristow Organizations: Downing, LONDON, Monday, Braverman, Home, Conservative, The Times, London, Palestine, CNBC, Palestinian, Hamas, Department for Science, Innovation, Technology, Conservative Party, Labour Party Locations: London, England, Ukraine, Northern Ireland, Gaza

☆ Elon Musk is coming to the UK's big AI safety party. Some people actually building AI say they got frozen out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The UK's AI summit is underway. Some AI experts and startups say they've been frozen out in favor of bigger tech companies. They warn that the "closed door" event risks ensuring that AI is dominated by select companies. The UK's AI summit aims to bring together AI experts, tech bosses, and world leaders to discuss the risks of AI and find ways to regulate the new technology. "It is far from certain whether the AI summit will have any lasting impact," Ekaterina Almasque, a general partner at European venture capital firm OpenOcean, which invests in AI, told Insider.

Persons: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, —, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Brad Smith, Kamala Harris, Iris Ai, Victor Botev, Yann LeCun, Rishi Sunak, Ekaterina Almasque, Almasque, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Service, OpenAI's, Microsoft, Twitter, UK, Big Tech, UK government's Department for Science, Innovation, Technology, UK's Trades Union Congress, American Federation of Labor, Industrial Organizations, Summit Locations: OpenOcean

☆ The world's first real AI rules are coming soon. Here's what they will look like.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The EU may be the first to enact generative AI regulation. The EU is likely to be the first region to enact some form of oversight or regulation around generative AI. The European Commission, which includes two dozen countries, is in late-stage negotiations over the AI Act, which it dubbed "the world's first rules on AI." Some AI tools could be banned in EuropeThe Act was first proposed in 2021, before OpenAI released its generative AI tools ChatGPT and DALL-E, leading the likes of Meta, Google, and Microsoft, to become public players in and leading proponents of generative AI. That one requirement could be enough to keep consumer-level generative AI out of China almost entirely.

Persons: —, OpenAI, they've, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Blumenthal, Michelle Donnelan Organizations: Service, EU, European Commission, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Companies, EU Commission, White, Department for Science, Innovation, Technology, State for Science, Partnership, Carnegie Endowment, International Locations: China, EU, Brazil, Europe, China Brazil

☆ Europe space chief warns over political wavering on climate
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Tim Hepher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"It just confirms that climate change is the biggest threat to our planet, to humankind, and will remain so for the next decades and we do need to do everything we can to mitigate the effects." Scientists say climate change is making heatwaves more frequent, intense and likely to happen across seasons, not just in what were regarded as the summer months. "Acting now is much cheaper than waiting for years and then patching up the damage that has been caused," he said when asked if he saw any signs of drift in Europe's climate agenda. FUNDING GAP AND 'GLOBAL BOILING'Aschbacher is among the most senior climate-monitoring officials to voice concerns over wavering support for measures to combat climate change - a creeping negative reaction that some climate activists have labelled "greenlash". This would significantly impact Europe’s commitment to combating climate change."

Persons: Josef Aschbacher, Aschbacher, Copernicus, Rishi Sunak, Ashbacher, Antonio Guterres, ESA's Copernicus, Tim Hepher, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Copernicus Sentinel, European Space Agency, Handout, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Meterological Organization, ESA, GAP, Sentinel, European Union, Negotiations, European Commission, EU, Britain's Department for Science, Innovation, Technology, Thomson Locations: Odemira, Alentejo, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Spain, Paris, Europe, Britain

☆ Taiwanese minister to make rare Britain visit this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TAIPEI, June 11 (Reuters) - Taiwan Digital Minister Audrey Tang will make a rare high-level ministerial trip to Britain this week where she is expected to visit government departments and meet a company specialising in low-earth orbit satellites, her ministry said on Sunday. The two sides will "exchange views on issues related to digital governance and digital industry cooperation", the ministry added, without giving details. Tang will also visit OneWeb, which specialises in low-earth orbit satellites, and hopes to bolster Taiwan's communications resilience plans, the ministry said. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu is expected to go to Europe this week, too, where he will attend a security forum in Prague. The last Taiwanese minister known to have visited Britain was Taiwan's top trade negotiator John Deng, who went last June.

Persons: Audrey Tang, Tang, Elon Musk's, Joseph Wu, John Deng, Britain's, Trade Greg Hands, Tsai Ing, Taiwan's, Ben Blanchard, Edmund Klamann Organizations: Taiwan Digital, WHO, Twitter, London Tech, Britain's Department for Science, Innovation, Technology, Department for Business, Trade, Elon, Taiwan, State, Thomson Locations: TAIPEI, Britain, Taiwan, Beijing, China, Europe, Prague

☆ UK plans 1 bln pounds of semiconductor investment in new strategy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - Britain announced 1 billion pounds ($1.26 billion) of investment for its semiconductor sector on Friday in a long-awaited strategy that aims to strengthen the domestic industry and chip supply chains. Britain will invest 200 million pounds in 2023-25, growing to up to 1 billion pounds in the next decade. The emphasis of Britain's strategy was on design and research, rather than making the semiconductors, although Britain said it would announce plans to support investment in the chip manufacturing sector by the autumn. The UK strategy comes after chip shortages worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted a range of industries and hit car production, though they have now started to ease. The United States announced $52.7 billion in chip subsidies last year, while a European Union chips law proposes to bring about 43 billion euros ($47 billion) in investments.

☆ With ChatGPT hype swirling, UK government urges regulators to come up with rules for A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In the white paper, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) outlined five principles it wanted companies to follow. Rather than establishing new regulations, the government is calling on regulators to apply existing regulations and inform companies about their obligations under the white paper. "When parliamentary time allows, legislation could be introduced to ensure regulators consider the principles consistently." On Monday, Secretary of State Michelle Donelan visited the offices of AI startup DeepMind in London, a government spokesperson said. Not everyone is convinced by the U.K. government's approach to regulating AI.

☆ UK finance minister, Bank of England working to minimise SVB fallout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - Britain's finance ministry and the Bank of England are working together to minimise the disruption that could stem from the UK arm of collapsed U.S. bank Silicon Valley Bank, the ministry said on Saturday. Officials from both groups are working closely together, the finance ministry said in a statement, with talks scheduled for later on Saturday to discuss the issues faced by British tech companies affected by the collapse. Britain's banking system remains strong and resilient, the finance ministry added, saying that the issues affecting Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) were specific to it and did not have implications for other banks operating in the UK. British clearing bank The Bank of London is considering a rescue bid for the UK arm of the U.S. bank, Sky News had reported earlier on Saturday. That came after the Bank of England on Friday said it was seeking a court order to place SVB UK into an insolvency procedure after U.S. regulators took over parent company SVB Financial Group.

☆ UK finance minister and Bank of England work to contain SVB fallout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Bank of England on Friday said it was seeking a court order to place SVB UK into an insolvency procedure. Advisory firm Rothschild & Co is exploring options for SVB UK as insolvency looms, two people familiar with the discussions told Reuters. More than 250 UK tech firm chief executives signed a letter addressed to Jeremy Hunt, the British chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister), calling for government intervention, a copy seen by Reuters shows. "The recent news about SVB going into insolvency represents an existential threat to the UK tech sector," the letter said. Sky News had reported earlier on Saturday that a British clearing bank, the Bank of London, was considering a rescue bid for the UK arm of SVB.

☆ UK PM Rishi Sunak overhauls government departments after bumpy 100 days in power
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.K. Prime Minister has announced a mini overhaul of his government as he seeks to reassert his authority after a shaky first 100 days in office. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday unveiled a new government department focused on energy security and announced a mini reshuffle of his cabinet as he seeks to reassert his authority after a shaky first 100 days in office. Sunak named former business minister Grant Shapps as head of the newly launched Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, whose focus will be on securing "long-term energy supply, bringing down bills and halving inflation." The prime minister also appointed former Trade Minister Greg Hands as his new party chairman, replacing sacked Nadhim Zahawi, in a mini-reshuffle of his top leadership team. The U.K. previously had a Department of Energy and Climate Change, but it was merged with the business department in 2016.

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