Market Update from the United Kingdom

The last couple of weeks have been filled with Man City, Boris Johnson, AI and London Tech Week, as well as The Norwegian Workshop and Global Offshore Wind. We've also visited Scotland to discuss aquaculture, and we're gearing up for mobility conference MOVE next week. Here's a quick runthrough from the UK market.

Politics:

Boris Johnson resigned as MP and the report on Partygate is out.

Here’s the BBC’s summary:

• A report by MPs says ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled the Commons over lockdown parties at No 10
• The committee says it would have recommended suspending Johnson from the House for 90 days
• It says he deliberately misled the House, the committee, impugned the committee and was “complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the Committee"
• It also recommends the former PM should not get a pass which allows ex-MPs to access Parliament after they leave
• Last week, Johnson stepped down as a Tory MP after being given advance sight of the Privileges Committee's report
• In an explosive statement, he called the committee a "kangaroo court" whose purpose "has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts"
• Johnson has admitted his statements misled Parliament but denied doing so intentionally or recklessly
• They make recommendations, but it is up to the Commons to decide whether to accept them

If we stay with Boris Johnson, he has over the last couple of weeks been in a very public “fight” with Rishi Sunak regarding his resignation's honours list.

Tech:

This week was London Tech Week, the 10th edition of the week-long festival showcasing how tech is and can transform business and society. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak opened the week by highlighting the government’s ambition to make the UK the best place in the world to start, grow and invest in tech business and his plans to transform the UK into the top global destination for AI innovation - followed by a fireside chat with Demis Hassabis, Founder of Google Deepmind. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence as a general purpose technology continued to be a major focus of the discussions throughout the week among policy makers, innovators and business leaders. But it is clear that leading in AI also means leading on AI safety - and UK will host the first global summit for AI safety this Autumn.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan addressed London’s incredible tech ecosystem in his welcome speech and concluded by welcoming global tech companies to the city. The launch of HSBC Innovation Banking was an important announcement for the UK tech ecosystem. HSBC Innovation Banking is a result of HSBCs acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank’s arm in the UK after the startup -friendly bank collapsed back in March and caused serious risk to the UK ecosystem.

All content from the main stage are available online:

• Day 1: Artificial intelligence, London’s tech and innovation ecosystem and optimism for the future of tech across industries ?
• Day 2: Diving into the metaverse technologies, climate technology and leadership and innovation
• Day 3: The current state of technology and the potential of quantum technology

In other tech news: ?

• The Alan Turing Institute and the Ada Lovelace Institute has published a nationally representative survey of how the British public feel about AI. Over 4000 members of the British public was surveyed to understand their awareness, experience and attitudes towards different use of artificial intelligence, including views and expectations on how these technologies should be regulated and governed.
• UK investment falls off a cliff as government drags its heels on support. Is the UK government shooting its own tech sector in the foot? - Sifted Analysis Two years ago the UK late-stage tech scene was on fire. Funding was growing at a faster rate in the UK than the US, Asia and France. US VCs were flocking to London to set up offices and back the country’s ever-expanding roster of unicorns.?It’s a different story in 2023. Amid a global slowdown in tech, the UK has fared worse than many other ecosystems. So far this year, late-stage funding has fallen 75% compared to the first half of 2022 — versus a 51% fall in the US, 58% in Asia and 64% in France. And even some of the biggest supporters of the country’s tech scene have soured on the UK.
• UKRI injects ￡45m into quantum projects
• AI university research gets ￡54m government funding boost From the funding, ￡31m will go towards responsible AI research at the University of Southampton, with the remainder being used to fund 13 projects based at universities across the country to develop AI innovations.

Aquaculture:

“Collaborative sustainable growth in the aquaculture sector”

IN, together with NCE Aquatech, Stiim, Salmon Scotland, and the Norwegian Embassy in London, hosted a conference in Edinburgh on the 5th and 6th June. The overarching theme was how Norway and Scotland can collaborate in achieving sustainable growth in the sector and it was emphasised that aquaculture is an important solution with regards to sustainable food sources in the future.

Norwegian and Scottish salmon farmers are amongst the most sustainable farmers in the world, however there are improvements to be made, especially in relation to fish health and mortality, to be able to achieve growth in production. Scotland has an ambition to double the economic contribution of the industry from GBP 1.8 billion (2016) to GBP 3.6 billion in 2030 – this is an opportunity for Norwegian aquatech companies to help them achieve this goal with innovative sustainable products and services.?

In attendance were representatives from Norwegian and Scottish government, industry associations, fish farmers, and suppliers, amongst others. It was roughly a 50/50 split between Norwegian and Scottish attendees.

Energy: ?

Global Offshore Wind in London: This week a group of Norwegian companies visited London and Global offshore Wind, one of the biggest offshore wind conferences of the year. More than 5000 attendees, 260+ exhibitors and more than 200 speakers gather over two days to discuss the offshore wind transition in London. About 100 industry stakeholders joined Team Norway’s networking event at the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence.

The Norway Pavilion and side events were organised by Innovation Norway, Norwegian Energy Partners, Norwegian Offshore Wind. The 12 exhibitors represent the entire offshore wind value chain. The Norwegian Pavilion consisted of the following companies this year:

IKM Testing UK Ltd | PGS | Vipo AS | Geokarp AS | Nordic Flow | Wirescan AS | Esgian | Umoe Mandal AS | NCC Industry AS | Cognite AS | F?N Energy Services | Ocean Ventus

Tourism

Over two days 20 Norwegian tourism companies have visited London to meet with over 40 British buyers for The Norwegian Workshop. We’ve run this workshop for several years, and this year we had quite a few new British buyers, so the interest in Norway as a travel destination is as strong as ever, despite a cost-of-living crisis and the geopolitical unrest. We started with a half day market insight with updates on travel trends, the British traveller and what’s been going on in the UK lately. Day two is a workshop day packed with over 300 pre-booked meetings at Plaister’s Hall.

The British traveller is a resilient one, they prioritise travel over other luxuries such as eating out and home improvements. However, we did hear from PWC that a lot of people might be waiting longer to book to see if they can afford it and people are bargain hunting a lot more, so last minute bookings are more common than before.

In other news:

• FT has written a series looking at the Labour leader’s plans ahead of an election expected next year. Quite detailed and interesting look at the potential new PM.
• The Starmer Project: Labour’s surprisingly bold economic agenda
• Keir Starmer’s ruthless remaking of the Labour party
• Brexit cited as a major concern as US business confidence in Britain drops
• Nadine Dorries says sinister forces stopped her peerage
• Andreessen Horowitz is setting up their first office in Europe in London.
• London-based next-generation vehicle startup Arrival is struggling
• UK fintech unicorn GoCardless lays off 15% of staff

Upcoming events:

MOVE 21.-22. June – London Excel WHERE MOBILITY IS RE-IMAGINED. Over 700 speakers, 6000 attendees, 500 start-ups and 150+ exhibitors in the mobility space will fill the Excel Center in London next week. Several Norwegian companies will attend. IN London will also attend.