New technologies, such as drones delivering vital supplies to AI-powered medical tools, could reach the public faster as the UK Government announces fresh funding aimed at cutting red tape to keep up with innovation.

Opening up the latest round of the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, the government aims to support regulators to trial new, more efficient ways of working that will allow businesses to bring their innovations to market faster, speeding up access to new tech for the public.

The launch of the fourth round, worth £5.5 million, builds on the previous phase of the fund, which supported twenty-four projects across the country in critical sectors such as healthcare, transport and energy.

One project in the previous cohort set out to explore safer ways for drones to fly alongside other aircraft while delivering urgent medical supplies and providing environmental monitoring, which the government estimated might contribute £45 billion to the UK economy at its highest potential. 

Other projects have included using synthetic data to speed up results of clinical trials, which could help get new, cheaper medical treatments out sooner, as well as support for the aviation industry to reduce regulatory challenges around the use of hydrogen as an aviation fuel at commercial scale. 

“The Regulators’ Pioneer Fund has been instrumental in helping the UK Civil Aviation Authority explore how it can enable innovators to develop new products and services, including the safe introduction of hydrogen as an aviation fuel,” said Tim Johnson, director of policy at the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

“This support has helped us engage early with those who are researching and developing this technology, understand key regulatory challenges, and starting to lay the groundwork for zero-emission flight in the UK.”

This latest round, to be delivered by the Regulatory Innovation Office, is now open to regulators and local authorities across the UK, with the government saying it hopes to discover bold ideas that back some of the UK’s most promising growth sectors.

That could include AI to support the NHS, engineered biology to improve food security, satellite tech to improve climate tracking, as well as self-driving vehicles.

Projects might include smarter ways to test new treatments, manage the use of airspace for drones, or support technologies like lab-grown foods. The ultimate goal is to bring innovations to market by reducing and simplifying what are often complex regulatory burdens.

“Smarter, more agile regulation is key to businesses bringing ideas to market faster, while giving the public confidence in new technologies,” said UK science minister, Patrick Vallance.

“By backing this kind of innovation, we’re helping to make the UK the best place in the world to launch, test and scale new ideas, and drive the economic growth we need to improve lives and deliver our Plan for Change.”

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The new Labour government has been pushing hard to cut red tape for UK businesses since coming into office. 

Back in March, the Treasury set out the government’s refreshed approach to regulation, arguing that outdated systems and excessive admin costs had held UK businesses back.

Among its many promises, the whitepaper pledged to cut regulatory burdens by 25% before the end of this Parliament, boost support for early and high-growth firms by increasing the number of FCA supervisors by 50%, and ease reporting requirements, all part of an effort to claw back some of the estimated £70 billion tied up in red tape.

Perhaps more controversially, that push for regulatory reform has also seen a change in ethos for the CMA, with the competition watchdog reportedly pressured to adopt a new framework for its reviews of business deals more in line with the government’s economic plans. 

Seeing this as a bridge too far, the Institute for Public Policy Research recently outlined its concerns to this quiet overhaul of UK competition law, with the think tank warning the government that Big Tech firms stand more to gain than the UK economy.