A new report warned that the UK “risks being left behind” as red tape is choking the potential of UK tech start-ups.
Innovators are looking elsewhere to set up new tech firms, due to Britain’s unsupportive regulatory environment, the report by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank warns.
And the current regulatory apparatus is slow to adapt to emerging technologies and poses a threat to the UK’s tech superpower ambitions, researchers found, with future jobs and the potential for economic growth in jeopardy.
It comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last year announced his plan for the UK to become a science and technology superpower by 2030 in a bid to lead the world in areas such as AI safety and its use in healthcare and business.
Matthew Feeney, CPS head of tech, who penned the study, warned: “There is a world where the UK becomes a global centre for technological experimentation, research and innovation.
“Where entrepreneurs and inventors are free to test new products and launch innovative companies. Unfortunately, this is not the world current policy will produce.”
Titled ‘Regulating for Growth’, the review comes after CPS research established that the net annual red tape burden on firms grew by some £6bn throughout the 2010s.
It argues that Britain should “embrace permissionless innovation” with entrepreneurs, firms, labs, inventors and researchers asking regulators for forgiveness rather than permission.
Researchers cited “outdated” approaches, “heavy handed” red tape, and an “overzealous and antiquated attitude to regulating emerging technologies” as issues to be addressed.
Overbearing regulations are “hampering the use of drones for spreading fertiliser” as well as “energy firms using drones to monitor and maintain offshore wind turbines”, it states.
The report also recommends the UK reassess its culture of regulation; that each regulator adopt a policy charter identifying precisely the harms it seeks to regulate; and that all laws should have a ‘best before date’ at which point they should be amended or scrapped.
Feeney added: “It is crucial for the government to get tech regulation correct. Success in the 21st century will be largely dependent on the speedy and successful adoption of new and emerging technologies.
“A country that does not have a regulatory structure nimble and flexible enough to new and emerging technologies risks being left behind.”
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have been contacted for comment.