Tag: Department for Science Innovation and Technology

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 19 June 2026.

SilentGlass is a plug-and-play cyber security device developed by NCSC and commercialised with support from GOTT, now licensed to a UK firm for global use.

Background 

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), is the UK’s National Technical Authority on cyber security. It works round the clock to combat cyber threats, support victims of cyber incidents, empowers organisations to protect the online services and digital technologies that underpin the UK economy and public services. 

As modern computer monitors become increasingly ’smart‘, digital video connections can be exploited to compromise laptops and other connected devices. This risk is particularly acute in environments where devices of differing trust levels connect to shared monitors, including secure government facilities, hybrid office working, and home working set‑ups. 

SilentGlass was developed within the NCSC to address this challenge, providing a simple and effective way to prevent video connections being used as a route for cyber-attack. 

Knowledge Asset solution 

SilentGlass is a small, ’plug-and-play’ hardware device that sits between a laptop and a monitor, preventing the physical connection from being used as a route to compromise either device. By removing this attack pathway, it helps organisations improve cyber security while supporting safer flexible and hot‑desking arrangements. 

The technology was originally developed for internal government use, but has since demonstrated clear potential for wider adoption across the public sector, critical national infrastructure and the private sector. 

To bring the technology to market while maintaining strong governance and security considerations, the NCSC pursued a licensing‑based commercialisation route. 

Who will this help? 

SilentGlass supports organisations that need high‑assurance protections for connected devices, including: 

• government departments and public sector bodies 
• organisations operating critical national infrastructure 
• businesses with high cyber security requirements 
• employers enabling flexible and hybrid working 

For the public sector, the case demonstrates how a government‑developed cyber security capability can be commercialised, supporting wider adoption while protecting intellectual property and ensuring greater public benefit. 

GOTT’s role 

The Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT) supported the NCSC to shape the commercialisation of SilentGlass by: 

• advising on appropriate intellectual property licensing strategies  
• providing funding and mentoring for a local Knowledge Asset manager to build commercialisation capability 
• facilitating access to the Tech Transfer ecosystem, including connections to experts in public sector investment and licence management 
• Championing and supporting the licensing approach across HM Government  

This support helped the NCSC navigate the commercialisation process, engage effectively with the market and secure a suitable licensing partner through a fair and competitive process. 

Outcome 

Following a competitive process, a global IP licence for SilentGlass has been agreed with a UK‑based company, Goldilock Labs. The device is now available globally. 

The licensed product will enable wider access to a high‑assurance cyber security solution originally developed for government use, supporting safer deployment of digital technologies and helping share the benefits of public sector innovation more widely across the UK and globally. 

By helping to launch a UK company onto the global market with this world-class innovation, we are breaking new ground, showing the impact that the NCSC can have, alongside industry partners, with an affordable and effective product now globally available. GOTT’s expertise and encouragement of UK HMG departments to seek greater value from their intellectual property (IP) was instrumental in our confidence to commercialise SilentGlass. We’ll continue working together off the back of this success to commercialise more of our unique IP to benefit our mission and the UK’s prosperity.

Ollie Whitehouse, NCSC Chief Technology Officer

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 16 June 2026.

A new national network to coordinate standards for the quantum technologies that will revolutionise everything from medicine to banking and transport.

• £10m network launched to shape the rules of the road for quantum – backing the UK’s global leadership.
• New National Quantum Standards Network will help turn British research into secure, reliable products people can trust and businesses can sell worldwide.
• Coordinated standards to accelerate breakthroughs in healthcare, transport and finance – unlocking jobs, investment and growth.

A new national network to coordinate standards for the quantum technologies that will revolutionise everything from medicine to banking and transport will strengthen the ability of British companies to grow at home and sell around the world.

Announced by Science Minister Lord Vallance today, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) will establish the National Quantum Standards Network (QSN) to bring together common standards for game-changing Quantum technology. 

Supported by £10 million from DSIT, it will bring together government, industry, and academia to engage with UK companies – ensuring their products are developed to internationally recognised standards.

The QSN will oversee everything from the linewidths of the ultra-narrow lasers needed to control qubits inside a quantum computer, to the size, weight and energy-efficiency requirements that will ensure one quantum sensor’s reading can be trusted against another’s.

It will bring together government, industry, academia and standards bodies, including the British Standards Institution and UKRI’s National Quantum Computing Centre.

Standards already underpin services we rely on, like using our mobile phones abroad and sending data securely. Doing the same with Quantum will help speed up adoption of the technology, and could help with everyday tasks like supporting sensitive transactions for banks all over the world.

Science Minister Lord Vallance said:

Quantum could bring benefits to our society as significant as what we are seeing with AI, with the potential to deliver new medicines, better public services, and protect our finances.

The UK’s quantum sector is already a global leader. With the National Quantum Standards Network we will accelerate its growth, meaning more British jobs and investment into our economy  from all over the world.

As key decisions are taken in international quantum standards-setting bodies over the coming years, the UK will now lead the way globally with its own dedicated network. The QSN will give British companies a voice in standards over the long term in a sector which has the potential to add £212 billion to the UK economy and add 100,000 jobs.

The government’s £2 billion investment into quantum announced earlier this year – building on existing strengths of leading companies and world-class talent – is already keeping the UK at the forefront of quantum innovation. This includes £1.2 billion towards the procurement of large-scale quantum computers, so companies can have confidence bringing technologies from the lab to market.

Dr Peter Thompson, CBE, CEO at NPL said: 

We are delighted to be leading the establishment of the Quantum Standards Network which marks a major step in ensuring the UK can lead the global conversation on quantum. Standards are the backbone of responsible, scalable innovation.

By coordinating expertise across the UK quantum ecosystem, the network will accelerate technology adoption, boost UK competitiveness and support the safe and ethical development of quantum technologies.”   

The UK is a big quantum player. In a recent vote of confidence, Vescent – a leading manufacturer of quantum tech – recently chose NPL as the location for its first office outside the US.

By positioning itself at the heart of common standards for quantum, the UK will secure competitive advantage, attract investment, and ensure British innovation underpins the technologies of the future.

Notes to editors

• Hosted by NPL, the Quantum Standards Network unites key strategic partners including DSIT, BSI, UKRI National Quantum Computing Centre, National Cyber Security Centre, and UKQuantum. Together, they will coordinate the UK’s engagement in emerging international standards activity and foster collaboration with leading technical agencies internationally.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 15 June 2026.

Social media platforms to be blocked from offering services to under-16s, marking a line in the sand and setting a new normal for future generations.

• UK will go further to protect kids with world-leading additional restrictions on harmful features online such as live streaming and strangers communicating with children 
• Government action shows clear choice to side with families over tech companies to put power back in parents’ hands and give kids the childhood they deserve 
• Decisive action – backed by 9 in 10 parents – expected to be brought to Parliament before Christmas, with protections expected to come into force in Spring 2027 

Children will be given back their childhoods thanks to government action to ban social media platforms from offering services to under-16s, with less time for scrolling and more time for play. 

The plans will set a new normal for future generations, kickstarting a cultural shift and driving forward the government’s fight to give every child the best start in life. 

The government plans to use the same model for a social media ban as Australia. This would capture user-to-user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction and which allow users to post material, alongside algorithms. The ban will therefore include platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. We do not intend for messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal to be included in the social media ban.

In a move to protect children online and address the scale of the challenge, the government will also go further than a blanket ban on social media with world-leading blocks on harmful functions such as livestreaming and stranger communication with children for under-16s. These restrictions – which together with the ban go further than any other country – will apply to a wider range of online services, including on gaming sites. 

Restrictions on these functionalities will also be on by default for under 16- and 17-year-olds to prevent a cliff-edge at 16. The government will also be looking in more detail at overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18-year-olds and will set out more detail in July. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:  

Parents want to keep their kids safe and happy, but the online world has made that harder than ever. 

I’ve heard first hand from families crying out for change and we will do right by them.  

That’s why we’re going further than any country in the world by banning social media for under-16s and putting wider protections in place to give kids their childhood back. 

This is a line in the sand. Tech giants had their chance and failed, but we’re stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations.

So-called AI ‘romantic companion’ chatbots – designed to simulate sexual relationships or roleplay with users – will have to enforce a minimum age of 18. Similar intimate functionalities will be restricted for under-18s on AI chatbots more widely. 

Taken together, these measures will mean a much more comprehensive model than just a blanket ban on social media — one that responds to how children experience harm online, rather than just where it happens. 

The changes will back parents grappling with the risks for children that come from the online world and help empower them by providing a clear decision on what is safe and age-appropriate for children. 

This is a decisive first step by the government which marks a clear choice to put children’s wellbeing first and give them a healthy life online. We stand ready to take further measures in the future.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: 

Today we take a bold and significant step, towards creating a safer, healthier life online, for our children and future generations. 

Tech companies have had countless opportunities to keep children safe, yet they have failed to act. That is why we are a taking power away from the tech giants and putting it back in parents’ hands. 

My driving force has always been to give every child, from every background, the best possible start in life. That is what these regulations will deliver.

The government will also learn the lessons from Australia’s experience by introducing more highly effective age assurance (HEAA) measures to support compliance, making it far harder for children to bypass safeguards. 

Ofcom will conduct a rapid study on what is effective age assurance for verifying whether someone is over 16. The Secretary of State has also written to the new Chair of Ofcom to ask for an urgent review of Ofcom’s enforcement capabilities with a clear enforcement strategy to be published as soon as possible.

In her letter, the Secretary of State confirmed the government will ensure Ofcom has the funding it needs to carry out its new responsibilities – as well as continue its vital work to enforce the existing provisions of the Online Safety Act, including protecting women and girls online, tackling harmful content that puts vulnerable people at risk, and taking action against serious illegal activity such as child sexual abuse material and online fraud and scams.  

Today’s announcement follows one of the biggest national conversations held by this government, with more than 116,000 responses submitted by parents, children and experts across the country. The responses showed overwhelming public backing for tougher action. 9 in 10 parents said they would support a social media ban for children under 16.

The majority of young people also backed action, with two-thirds agreeing that children younger than 16 should not be allowed to use at least some social media platforms. 

On social media services, real-time content makes harmful material harder to moderate, and algorithmic feeds can intensify exposure to dangerous, distressing or overly engaging material.

Parents rightly expect government to take action as quickly as possible, which is why the government has already taken powers through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act to act fast — using secondary legislation to introduce targeted protections without needing to wait to bring in a whole new Act. This means the first set of regulations could be in effect in Spring 2027. 

Today’s action builds on the government’s work to date to go further and faster to protect children online and fight for their wellbeing. Last week, the Prime Minister challenged tech companies so that Britain will be the first country in the world to make it impossible for children to take, share or view nude images – with a 3-month deadline to make meaningful progress. 

This watershed moment will come alongside the government’s drive to remove barriers to opportunity and set every child up for happy, fulfilling lives. Yesterday, the government set out further steps to make sure children in every part of the country get greater access to enrichment opportunities in sport, creative activities, nature and the arts both in and out of school.

This builds on wider work to halve the participation gap and reclaim childhood for all young people, including through reforms to the curriculum so that every child gets the skills they need to get on in life, and support throughout their school years to explore and develop their talents, regardless of their background or where they live.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 12 June 2026.

The Government Cyber Action Plan aims to boost cyber resilience across the UK public sector by using emerging technologies to manage risk. The Government Cyber Coordination Centre (GC3) – a partnership between the NCSC and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – is leading this work, exploring how frontier AI can be applied safely to cyber defence across government.

From frontier models to front-line impact 

We know AI is disrupting the cyber threat landscape. Recently released frontier AI systems such as Claude Mythos and GPT-5.5 brought a step-change in cyber capabilities, and the UK AI Security Institute (AISI)’s evaluations show these models getting better at cyber tasks very quickly.  

However, evaluation in synthetic environments gives a limited understanding of real-world use. A high score on a benchmark does not necessarily translate into finding and fixing real vulnerabilities.

What we did 

The Government Cyber Coordination Centre led a weekly, in-person series of hackathons which used frontier AI to scan public code repositories across government. Working closely with specialists from the AISI and NCSC, our goal was to find and mitigate previously unidentified vulnerabilities before they could be exploited. Rather than mandate a single approach, we gave teams model access and let them build their own tooling, noticing what worked each week and building on the best approaches. 

The UK Government encourages new source code to be open by default, with specific and justified exceptions. In practice, that creates a degree of shared visibility that attackers can also exploit. However, this openness also limits duplication and leads to cleaner, more easily maintained code. 

Code published in the open has also already passed extensive prepublication scrutiny, meaning it can be shared with frontier model providers with minimal additional review. This means that government departments can deploy new capabilities quickly and with confidence.

An adversarial chain that challenges itself. One team ran each public repo through a six-stage AI agent pipeline: triage, validator, auditor, tracer, judge, summary. Each stage reads and challenges the last. In one case, the agent downgraded a finding once it established that a backup mechanism was in place. The pipeline was agentic, but the escalation was manual. This means a member of the team checked every line, re-verified exposure, and handled false positives.

Deterministic scanners feeding a model. Another team ran traditional scanning tools first (including Gitleaks, Trivy, Semgrep and Hadolint) to generate a ranked findings document. Three model stages were then layered on top: a discovery stage that treated the scanner output as leads and read the source against OWASP and CWE frameworks, a chain-investigation stage that composed individual findings into attack paths via per-chain sub-agents, and a triage stage that confirmed the finding viability.

Codifying a multi-service audit into reusable skills. Another department developed five domain-specific Claude Skills. The Skills distil an organisation wide audit across hundreds of services into something repeatable. Skills enabled a reusable, scoped, and consistent approach across every repository and operator.

What we found 

Participants identified 407 findings in total, including critical weaknesses exposing services to authentication bypass, data exposure and remote code execution. Some were already understood and mitigated by compensating controls while others were previously unknown. All critical weaknesses have been remediated, and no evidence of exploitation was identified for any finding. 

AI models traced vulnerabilities across service boundaries, which traditional scanners can’t do, and linked business logic with technical detail. Departments prioritised validation and remediation through existing frameworks, patching critical and high-risk issues assessed as exploitable. 

It cost us £13,000 in tokens to find these weaknesses, working across nine government organisations for the month.

Identifying Critical vulnerabilities: One notable finding affected legacy GitHub Actions in a repository supporting a key government digital service. The issue allowed an external user to trigger a workflow chain by posting a specially structured comment on an open pull request. This bypassed the usual protections for pull requests from unknown contributors because the workflow was triggered by a comment, not by the pull request itself. 

The impact was arbitrary remote code execution on the GitHub Actions runner. The workflow took content from the comment, passed it into deployment parameters, and used it in an environment substitution step that executed during the workflow. By placing executable content in the comment field, an external user could cause their input to run on the GitHub runner. 

This created a route for malicious actors to potentially extract secrets and tokens available to the workflow, including the GitHub token used by the automation. With that level of access, the issue could support wider repository compromise, including manipulating pull requests, approving workflow activity, altering trusted contributor status, and exploit further secrets available to the automation environment.

What we learnt 

Across teams, the common thread was structure. Models were used as components, using Skills, running in parallel across repositories, and a human expert kept in the loop on anything that mattered. We learnt that: 

• Architecture matters the most. The strongest results came from using frontier models as tightly scoped components inside a structured pipeline. Breaking traditional vulnerability management workflows into discrete, task-specific harnesses let teams scale while controlling false positives and hallucination. 
• The model matters less than how it’s used. AISI’s research, borne out here, shows that with the right architecture and task design many near-frontier and frontier models perform comparably at scanning code. The best findings still lean heavily on human expertise in breaking the problem down and identifying wider context. 
• Triage is essential. Agents generate candidate findings far faster than humans can validate them. Poorly scoped runs burn tokens on low-value targets; weak review dumps the load onto stretched security teams. Careful upfront scoping and structured internal filtering of low-confidence findings kept human review focused. As in traditional vulnerability management, it’s not how many issues are found, but whether triage points limited resource where it matters. 
• Finding isn’t the same as fixing. Findings still had to enter the patch pipeline for remediation. AI shows promise here too, but today prioritisation, review and patch-generation all must integrate without overwhelming human-centred processes.

What next 

GC3 will kick off a second phase of this pilot, with more departments, additional models, and an extension from public code to closed-source estates. Identifying vulnerabilities early on, raising the consistency of defensive practice, and helping departments share on proven techniques is how we put the Government Cyber Action Plan into practice.  

AISI and NCSC’s involvement will also deepen as we continue to evaluate AI as a tool for cyber defence in applied settings, closing the gap between a theoretical benchmark and a real reduction in risk. 

This pilot was a test of how government can adopt new capabilities responsibly, learn quickly, and share what works.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 12 June 2026.

More than £6 billion of new investment and around 8,000 new jobs have been announced this week, as companies from around the world choose to build, hire and scale here.

More than £6 billion of new investment and around 8,000 new jobs have been announced this week, as companies from around the world choose to build, hire and scale here – reinforcing Britain’s position as a global hub for AI.  

From AMD’s £2 billion commitment for next generation AI compute, to Nebius investing £1.7 billion in new infrastructure, to homegrown companies like Oxford Quantum Circuits securing record funding – this is Britain’s AI leadership turning into real jobs, investment and opportunities across the country. 

These deals span the full breadth of the AI economy – from chips and cloud infrastructure to autonomous vehicles and open-source development – showing the UK isn’t just keeping pace in the global AI race but helping to shape its direction.  

The momentum has been matched by government action throughout the week to strengthen the UK’s tech sector – backing the skills, infrastructure and innovation needed to unlock growth. That includes new support for young people to seize the opportunities of AI, the first-ever AI Adoption Summit, a landmark £1.1 billion AI Hardware Plan, plus new backing for open-source AI builders, and a data centre design challenge – so Britain builds with taste.  

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: 

Britain is seizing the opportunities of tech and AI to create jobs, improve lives and grow businesses.

Companies from across the globe are choosing to invest here and hire here, bringing billions of pounds and thousands of new jobs with them.

And this Government is backing them with our £1.1billion hardware plan and our investment in skills and training.

We are rebuilding Britain for the modern age and creating a future that works for all.

A range of major investments have been announced, totalling over £6 billion of investment and around 8,000 new jobs – from global leaders and frontier companies choosing to grow here. This includes:

• AMD commits up to £2 billion of investment over five years to Accelerate AI Innovation and Research in the United Kingdom.  
• Nebius, the AI cloud company, announced it is investing approximately £1.7 billion to build out capacity in the UK with three new deployments of advanced NVIDIA compute, as the company continues to expand its commercial and AI R&D hub in London. 
• Amazon opened a new fulfilment centre in Northampton and announced plans for a second major site in Kettering, committing more than £1 billion and up to 4,000 jobs in a single county as part of its planned £40 billion UK investment. 
• British unicorn Ark has announced an investment of £807m in the expansion of its Longcross Park campus. The expansion supports the deployment of leading AI cloud provider Nebius, which is also increasing its footprint in the UK as well as an additional data centre facility with 36MW of future capacity. 
• Eros Innovation is investing £265m and establishing a sovereign British Cultural AI capability, supporting 3,000+ jobs across 15 productions over five-years (2 films shooting in the UK in 2026), licensing its $1.7bn cultural dataset to its UK operation and launching an AI Studio to develop Large Cultural Models trained on British creative heritage and governed by British law. 
• Quantum computing scale-up Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) securing a £260 million investment – the largest quantum funding round in the UK, backed by the British Business Bank.  
• Silicon Valley investors Playground Global are launching a new fund backed by up to £150 million from the British Business Bank – the largest fund investment the bank has ever made – to invest in UK-based hardware companies and help them scale.  
• Arlequin AI investing up to £45 million in the UK over the next 5 years with capital deployed across local hiring, UK R&D, and sovereign deployment capability for government and critical national infrastructure clients. 
• Midlands Mindforge has now entered its active investing stage, thanks to the support of the Mayors of the East and West Midlands, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Rigby Group and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) via the Invest in UK University R&D Midlands Campaign. This will help to unlock an initial £30m of capital into the region making its first round of investments into spinout companies. 
• Cosine announced the formation of a coalition of major UK institutions including, BAE Systems, BT, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, PwC and Leonardo UK, to co-design Lumen Sovereign, Britain’s first fully sovereign frontier AI model. Backed by the Government’s Sovereign AI Fund, Lumen Sovereign will be trained entirely on UK soil using Isambard-AI. 
• AI coding startup Cursor announced plans to open its European headquarters in London. 
• Fynd, the AI-native unified commerce platform serving brands and retailers across India, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, has opened its first UK office in London. This investment is projected to create 70 jobs across London, Manchester and the wider UK by 2028. 
• General Intuition — the frontier research lab dedicated to foundation models for spatial and temporal reasoning — has opened a UK office in London King’s Cross. The lab will invest some of its recent $133M seed round into expanding its London-based research team, drawing on the UK’s strong talent base. 
• Legora, the AI platform for legal professionals, is expanding its European footprint with a dedicated engineering hub in London in a major vote of confidence in the UK’s AI capabilities.  
• Multiverse announced the opening of a new technology hub in Edinburgh and plans to create 200 jobs in the next year across the new office and its London headquarters. 
• German AI unicorn n8n will expand its investment into the UK by delivering up to 200 high-skilled jobs over the next three years, a strong endorsement of the UK’s AI talent ecosystem. 
• PhysicsX secured a $300 million Series C investment, taking its valuation to approximately $2.4 billion. The funding will accelerate PhysicsX’s global expansion, platform development, and frontier physics AI research. 
• Reflection, the US-based open-source AI lab founded by former Google DeepMind researchers Misha Laskin and Ioannis Antonoglou, is expanding its UK footprint with plans to hire more than 100 highly skilled employees within the next 12 months, growing to over 1,000 roles within three years. 
• US tech company Replit will be opening up an office in London this year.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 10 June 2026.

UK Space Minister unveils more than £19 million at London Tech Week to support British companies developing next-generation space technologies.

• Cardiff-based Space Forge will receive £10 million to develop its reusable fold-out heat shield, Pridwen, making it simpler and cheaper to return materials manufactured in space. 
• A further £9.25 million will support more early-stage UK space companies, helping them grow and bring in private investment. 
• The package includes new backing for companies developing technologies that strengthen space infrastructure, improve navigation and help track satellites and debris in orbit 

Britain’s space ambitions received a major boost today (10 June), with Space Minister Liz Lloyd announcing more than £19 million for cutting-edge technologies that could transform manufacturing in orbit and help keep space safe. 

Speaking at London Tech Week, Minister Lloyd announced a package of more than £19 million to back British space innovation. The package will support companies developing technologies that could change how materials are made in space, make it easier to bring them back to Earth, and help keep the space environment safe and sustainable. 

Welsh company Space Forge wins £10m backing for reusable heat shield 

Cardiff-based Space Forge is pioneering in-space manufacturing, developing semiconductors in microgravity where materials can be made with fewer defects and greater uniformity – potentially improving performance in technologies such as telecoms, computing, defence and clean energy. 

The company will receive £10 million, funded through an increase to the UK Space Agency’s investment in the European Space Agency’s General Support Technology Programme (GSTP), which will support a mission to design, build, launch and return ‘Pridwen’, a new deployable heat shield system designed to protect spacecraft returning to Earth. 

Traditional heat shields are usually fixed, rigid structures or tiles attached to a spacecraft, which can add weight, take up space and be difficult to reuse. Pridwen is designed to deploy during re-entry, creating a larger protective surface that helps shield the spacecraft from extreme heat and pressure while making the system lighter, easier to recover and more practical to use again. 

The mission will help bring Pridwen to full commercial readiness, enabling frequent and reliable return of payloads from space which is critical to the growth of the in-space manufacturing industry. 

Space Minister Liz Lloyd said: 

Today’s government-funded investment in Space Forge shows our commitment to keeping Britain at the forefront of the fast-growing space sector. Space Forge is developing technology that could revolutionise in-space manufacturing. 

Our wider investment is also helping more British space businesses grow, bring in private backing and create high-skilled jobs across the country. That is how we build a stronger space sector and keep the UK one of the best places in the world to start and scale a space business.

Joshua Western, CEO & Co-founder, Space Forge, said:  

We’re thrilled to be awarded the GSTP funding to help bring Pridwen to commercial readiness. This proprietary technology is key to enabling the safe return of our materials to Earth, which in turn unlocks the future of in-space manufacturing.  

With our recent ForgeStar-1 mission we proved we can create the right manufacturing environment for next-generation semiconductor materials in space, with this newly funded mission we can prove our ability to deliver products to market.

£9.25m boost for early-stage UK space companies 

Minister Lloyd also announced a further £9.25 million has been invested into the Space Portfolio of the UK Innovation and Science Seed (UKI2S) Fund, managed by Future Planet Capital, to help UK space businesses scale and grow, bringing the total Space Portfolio to £22 million. 

This additional investment into UKI2S will further help early-stage, high-potential UK space businesses get off the ground and attract more private investment, supporting jobs and growth across the country.   

The UKI2S Space Portfolio has already demonstrated success, having helped bring in more than £17 million from private investors, with every £1 of public money attracting over £5.90 in additional backing.

3 new deals have been agreed this year, helping UK space businesses bring in more than £10 million in extra private backing for work that will make space safer and improve technologies used in navigation and security: 

• Silicon Microgravity makes highly accurate sensors used in navigation, aerospace and defence. A £500,000 UKI2S Space investment helped the company secure a further £4.8 million from private investors. 
• Optera makes sensors that help track objects in space. Originally based in Australia, the company has now set up in the UK, with a £300,000 investment through the Space Portfolio helping it secure a further £2.4 million in additional investment. 
• Spaceflux tracks satellites and debris in orbit to help keep space safe. A follow-on £100,000 UKI2S Space investment, following an earlier £400,000 investment through the Space Portfolio in 2025, has helped the company attract £7.5 million in private investment. 

These deals build on the Fund’s broader track record, which includes a previous £500,000 investment in Messium, a company that uses satellite data and AI to help farmers use fertiliser more efficiently, reducing costs and environmental impact. That investment helped enable a total of £2.7 million in private investment. 

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 3 June 2026.

Sir Ian Cheshire has been announced as Chair of Ofcom, the UK’s independent regulator for communications.

• Technology Secretary confirms Sir Ian Cheshire, as new Chair of Ofcom 
• The former Channel 4 Chair will oversee regulator responsible for enforcing the UK’s Online Safety Act, driving growth across communications sectors, and protecting consumers  
• Sir Ian has committed to ensuring the regulator acts decisively to protect people from online harms as he steers Ofcom through crucial next chapter. 

Business leader Sir Ian Cheshire has been announced as Chair of Ofcom, the UK’s independent regulator for communications, following a pre-appointment hearing with the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee. 

His appointment signals a significant moment for Ofcom, which has evolved considerably since it was first established, with telecoms, broadcasting and online safety now all within its remit. 

In taking on the role, Sir Ian has committed to ensuring the regulator is guided by the experiences of those most exposed to online harms and translates that insight into strong, effective action. He has also committed to working constructively with Government on all aspects of Ofcom’s remit, including effective implementation of the Online Safety Act including government’s recent action to build on it, delivering Ofcom’s growth goals, and developing robust KPIs, while fully upholding Ofcom’s operational independence.  

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: 

Sir Ian brings exactly the kind of leadership experience that Ofcom needs as it enters this next critical chapter.  

The Online Safety Act must be enforced robustly and without compromise, and Ofcom has a central role in making the UK the safest place to be online. 

From protecting consumers and tackling online harms to driving growth across our communications sectors, the regulator has never had a more important role to play. I look forward to working with Sir Ian as he leads Ofcom into this next phase.

Sir Ian Cheshire said: 

I am honoured and delighted to take on the Chair of Ofcom at this vital time as it begins to tackle the new challenges of Online Safety while continuing to deliver its traditional oversight of telecoms and broadcasting . I am especially interested in the lived experience of our citizens and also seeing the data that allows us to measure the increase of our impact.

Sir Ian was most recently Chair of Channel 4 from 2022 to 2025, and previously Chief Executive of Kingfisher plc. He has since held senior non-executive and advisory roles across business, sustainability and public policy, including as Chair of Barclays UK, Landsecurities PLC and various charities. 

The Chair provides strategic leadership to Ofcom to ensure it can deliver its statutory responsibilities, including implementing and enforcing the Online Safety Act, protecting consumers and supporting growth and innovation across the UK’s communications sectors. 

He succeeds Lord Michael Grade, whose term as Chair concluded at the end of April 2026.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 1 June 2026.

Mayors in England to be given more power to fuel innovation and boost jobs in their region through Local Innovation Partnerships Fund.

• Mayors in England to be given more power to fuel innovation and boost jobs in their region through Local Innovation Partnerships Fund 
• The Fund helps local leaders target R&D investments to support opportunities for growth and support innovations which improve people’s lives, from new medical technology to cleaner energy 
• This comes alongside the announcement today of two projects in Liverpool set to receive £23.7 million in Local Innovation Partnerships funding

Mayors in areas including Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, and Greater London will be handed control of Local Innovation Partnership funding designed to boost the new industries and technologies that will drive the growth, jobs and businesses of the future. 

After the next Spending Review, Mayors of Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities will be given the ability to decide how and where to target regional R&D investment through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund on their own doorstep.   

This decision is driven by the government’s commitment to empower local leaders to make the right funding decisions for their communities and unlock investment in their region.  

The Local Innovation Partnerships Fund supports partnerships of local leaders, businesses and universities to turn existing research breakthroughs into practical solutions that back local businesses, create jobs and improve people’s lives. 

Joining mayors and local officials on a visit to Liverpool today (Monday 1st June), Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has confirmed plans to pass future control of the Local Innovation Partnership Fund in England to regional leaders, with the change expected to kick in during the next Spending Review period. 

Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: 

Science and technology is the ultimate driver of growth, and this Government is determined to ensure every region shares in the prosperity brought about by innovation. 

Through the future devolution of Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, we are putting money and power into the hands of regional leaders that know the strengths of their communities best, allowing them to back local businesses, encourage innovation and create the high-quality jobs that will drive the growth these regions need now and in the future.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: 

The projects being backed in our region today show exactly what can happen when you trust places like ours to lead from the front. We’ve got world-class expertise here in the Liverpool City Region and this investment will help turn that innovation into good jobs, new industries and real opportunities for local people. 

But the really important part of today’s announcement is about what comes next. For too long, decisions about funding and investment have been made in Whitehall by people too far removed from the strengths and challenges of our communities. Giving mayors greater control over future innovation funding is another important step towards putting those decisions in local hands. 

Whether it’s life sciences, AI, advanced manufacturing or clean energy, we’ve shown time and again that our region can compete with anyone when we’re given the tools to do it. This is about backing our strengths, growing the economy and making sure the benefits are felt by the people who live here.

The £500 million committed last year for the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund between 2026-31 will power innovative businesses in 17 regions across the country.  

Today, the local partnership in Liverpool City Region has announced that two projects led by the University of Liverpool are set to receive £23.7m of the £30 million Local Innovation Partnership Funding for the region.  

One project, AIM HI, will accelerate the application of artificial intelligence and robotics in materials chemistry, to increase productivity and new business growth. The other project, NBIC LIVE, will establish the world’s first centre of innovation excellence dedicated to AI-enabled rapid innovation of antimicrobial, anti-viral, and anti-biofilm surfaces and materials. 

The Local Innovation Partnerships Fund builds on the success and knowledge gained by previous regional innovation funding programmes, which have generated hundreds of high-quality jobs and hundreds of millions of pounds worth of private co-investment.  

This will ensure that the decisions on how the fund’s future support will be even more locally led than before, helping them to be directly targeted to the businesses, researchers and projects with the most potential in their communities. 

The Local Innovation Partnerships Fund is part of the government’s record £86 billion R&D settlement until 2030. The level of funding delivered through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund in future will be subject to affordability to be determined at future Spending Reviews. 

The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology and UKRI will now work closely with mayors over the coming months to determine the best way to deliver this commitment to devolution.  

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: 

For the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy to succeed, it needs to empower the local leaders who know their communities, businesses and universities best. 

From financial services and health technology to advanced manufacturing and clean energy, West Yorkshire is a world leader in the sectors that are growing the UK economy fastest. 

With local control of public innovation funding, we’ll target investment where it has the greatest potential to create good jobs, boost economic growth, and create a stronger, better off West Yorkshire.

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said:  

The West Midlands has always been a powerhouse for innovation. Its strengths in science and technology are at the very heart of my plans to drive new growth and prosperity across our region. We know better than anyone the massive potential our communities offer. By putting funding directly into local hands, we’re giving our people the tools they need to spearhead breakthroughs, create new jobs, and power the wider UK economy. 

Professor Tim Jones, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool said:

This new funding recognises the power of partnership between universities, industry and civic leaders. Through AIM-HI and NBIC-LIVE, the University of Liverpool will help accelerate world-leading advances in AI-enabled materials chemistry and life science, while creating new opportunities for businesses, researchers and the LCR workforce.

The projects have been developed through strong partnership working with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and our industry partners The LCR LIPF projects will foster long-term economic growth and support high-value jobs whilst securing our region’s reputation as a global centre for scientific and technological innovation.

The press release issued by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 29 May 2026.

G7 Digital Ministers have agreed a common approach to shielding children and young people from harm online for the first time.

• Strongest-ever G7 collective commitments see partner nations commit to a shared approach to protecting children online
• Collaborative approach to promoting children’s online safety complements UK ambition to be the safest place in the world to be online
• Tool created to support small businesses in G7 to adopt AI at pace

Following talks at the G7 Digital Ministers in Paris today (Friday 29 May), the UK and G7 partners have for the first time agreed a common approach to shielding children and young people from harm online.

G7 countries have agreed to a set of new shared principles to help tackle the growing risks children face in a digital world, from harmful content to exploitation. These are centred around promoting digital literacy, addressing risks to children from AI chatbots, and pushing digital services providers to take a robust approach to online safety.

The landmark G7 agreement sets clear expectations that children’s safety should not be an afterthought, but built into digital services from the start, underpinned by effective age assurance. There is also a commitment to closer cooperation between digital service providers and children, parents and guardians.

The agreement comes just a few days after the UK’s consultation on protecting children from online harms closed, which asked for views on measures including potential bans or curfews for under-16s, restrictions on harmful app features like infinite scrolling, and stronger parental controls. The consultation received thousands of responses from children, parents and experts alike, with the Government intending to respond in the very near future.

As part of the discussions at the G7, countries also agreed that data sharing between online platforms, parents and researchers should be improved, to better understand how digital services impact children’s wellbeing.

Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said:

AI and other technologies have the power to transform our economies and create prosperity for people across all our nations.

But ordinary citizens and businesses will only see those benefits when they have trust that these technologies are being developed safely and responsibly — and when children can grow up in a digital world designed with their wellbeing in mind.

The agreements we have reached today are an important step on that journey: outlining a shared approach to protecting our children, backing our small businesses to adopt AI, and ensuring AI is developed safely and responsibly.

While much of today’s discussions in Paris focused on online safety, they also recognised the immense potential for emerging technologies like AI to unlock economic growth and improvements to the everyday lives of citizens.

G7 countries reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring AI is developed and used in ways that people can trust, all while recognising the transformative benefits of the technology.

Ministers highlighted the importance of staying ahead of a range of threats such as cyberattacks, and the development of chemical and biological capabilities. Under France’s Presidency, G7 countries agreed to further discussions on a mutual understanding of AI risk assessment frameworks, to ultimately boost public trust in the technology and ensure innovation can flourish.

To ensure the benefits of AI are felt more widely across society, Ministers agreed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be supported to adopt the technology with a tool developed in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that will also help small businesses better their AI-readiness and identify areas where they can improve their workforce’s knowledge to speed up AI adoption. G7 leaders also agreed a Vision on AI Openness, recognising that AI models play a key part in supporting innovation, scientific discovery, and economic growth.

Taken together, these steps will help ensure AI delivers real improvements to people’s lives and that people can trust that these technologies are being developed with their safety in mind. G7 members will now take forward these commitments in partnership with international organisations, industry and academia.

Notes to editors:

• Elsewhere, Ministers highlighted the importance of improving detection of AI-generated content, helping users – including children – identify misleading or deceptive material online.
• The agreement stressed the need to ensure AI systems are secure, guarding against misuse and vulnerabilities that could harm individuals or society.
• Ministers reiterated the importance of trust in data as a foundation for innovation, committing to enable cross-border data flows while maintaining strong protections for privacy, security and intellectual property.
• They also agreed to continue work to ensure the digital and AI sector is resilient and resource-efficient, recognising growing pressures on energy and infrastructure as AI adoption increases and the role AI and wider digital technologies can play in the solution by improving efficiency and optimising energy systems.

The press release issued by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology on 29 May 2026.

Government to propose tougher fines and prison sentences for those who damage subsea infrastructure essential for UK internet access.

• Government to propose tougher fines and prison sentences for those who damage subsea infrastructure essential for UK internet access, with consultation planned later this year 
• New obligations on subsea cable operators to secure their infrastructure and new emergency powers for government to also be proposed, following rise in suspicious activity by Russian vessels 
• Plans set out in speech by UK telecoms minister Liz Lloyd at the Royal United Services Institute. 

Ship owners and operators that recklessly damage subsea internet cables will face tougher penalties under new proposals to strengthen national security and deter Russia and other hostile states from sabotaging the UK’s critical national infrastructure.

Subsea telecoms cables carry the data that underpins the economy, with £1.4 trillion in daily UK transactions reliant on the subsea cable industry. They enable everyday communications like calls, instant messaging and social media as well as critical services vital for supply chains, emergency services, the military and key British industries such as finance.  

The UK already has a highly resilient system, underpinned by around 64 cables. When cables break, a repair vessel is at the scene within eight days, a world-leading response time. Faults are rare and the overwhelming majority are not malicious, with up to 97%* arising from fishing activity or vessels dragging anchors, and most aren’t noticed by the public. Suspicious activity near subsea cables is, however, being increasingly observed. 

In April the British Armed Forces exposed a covert Russian submarine operation carrying out nefarious activity over critical undersea infrastructure in and around UK waters. With the geopolitical environment growing ever more challenging, the government has been rightly reviewing whether the UK’s security and resilience arrangements remain strong enough. 

Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on Friday (29 May), telecoms minister Liz Lloyd set out plans to consult on replacing 140-year-old legislation to make the law clearer, and much harder to evade – with tougher fines and prison sentences for vessel owners and operators that intentionally or recklessly damage cables.  

She also highlighted that Government is considering new security obligations on cable owners and operators, ensuring they take the necessary steps to prevent, detect and respond to security compromises in a consistent and timely manner. 

New emergency powers to direct businesses to protect this infrastructure will also be included in the proposals, which would strengthen government’s ability to respond to major subsea cable incidents and minimise disruption to UK connectivity. The proposals will be set out in detail through a white paper later this year.   

Telecoms minister Liz Lloyd said: 

The UK already has strong protections in place for our subsea cables, but in a more uncertain world we cannot stand still. 

As hostile activity by Russia and others grows, protecting these cables matters more than ever for our economy, security and daily lives. That is why we plan to go further with tougher penalties for reckless damage, stronger security obligations and new powers to respond quickly when incidents happen. 

True resilience depends on having a healthy thriving telecoms sector, and government must play an active role in creating the conditions for commercial success. By building a strong domestic industry we don’t just protect infrastructure, we strengthen the UK’s position as a global centre for digital trade.” 

For acts of sabotage clearly linked to a hostile state, UK laws already carry life imprisonment for the most serious cases. However, malicious activity below the ocean surface doesn’t always present itself clearly – operating in a ”grey zone” – ambiguous in intent, hard to prove and difficult to prosecute. 

In her speech, Minister Lloyd explained how the legal system needed to keep pace with the threat, and that planned legislative proposals for consultation would modernise and strengthen the criminal framework around subsea cables. She said the changes would “send a clear message that if you act recklessly, or if you deliberately target our cables, there will be serious consequences.” 

Minister Lloyd also pointed to existing plans to support next-generation of investment in cable upgrades through “common-sense regulation” that “supports growth rather than holds it back” – pointing to exemptions on environmental red tape for the laying, maintenance and removal of subsea cables in deep waters, where impact on marine life is extremely limited.