The Financial Conduct Authority is working with major UK finance firms, from NatWest to Monzo, to test AI in a safe place to better understand its potential benefits and risks.
The AI Live Testing initiative is the first of its kind in the financial sector to help firms who are ready to use AI in UK financial markets.
Participating firms receive tailored support from the FCA’s regulatory team and its technical partner Advai, to develop, assess and deploy safe and responsible AI.
Gain Credit, Homeprotect, part of the Avantia Group, NatWest, Monzo, Santander, Scottish Widows, part of Lloyds Banking Group, and Snorkl are the first group to take part.
AI testing can be a vital step in helping firms address key questions around evaluation frameworks, live monitoring governance and risk management to ensure that AI is deployed safely and responsibly for consumers and markets.
Many of the AI applications currently being tested as part of the project focus on retail financial services including use cases to harness AI to support debt resolution or provide financial advice.
Applications are also exploring the potential for AI to help improve customer engagement, streamline complaints handling and help consumers to make smarter spending and saving decisions.
“Our new AI Live Testing service helps firms who are ready to use AI in live markets,” Jessica Rusu, chief data, information and intelligence at the FCA, said. “By working closely with firms and our technical partner Advai, we’re helping to make sure that AI is developed and deployed safely and responsibly in UK financial markets.”
The project will help the FCA better understand how AI could shape UK financial markets and inform its future approach to the technology.
AI Live Testing complements the FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox which helps firms who are in the discovery and experiment phase with AI.
Applications for the second cohort for AI Live Testing will open in January 2026 and participating firms will be able to start testing in April.
The world’s top AI companies are falling disappointingly short when it comes to emerging global safety standards, with many companies failing to meet their own safety guidelines, a new report shows.
The Future of Life Institute‘s 2025 Winter AI Safety Index report shows a clear divide in the safety performance of the top eight AI firms, though none have yet to break an overall grading of B or above.
The researchers assessed the overall safety of some of the world’s top AI companies, assessing their public statements as well as responses to the Institute’s own survey. The scores are based on 35 distinct safety indicators across six categories.
The safety review ranged from internal tools like watermarking to overall transparency policies, questioning the various AI models’ safety as well as the ethical practices of the companies.
Anthropic and OpenAI managed to score a C+, with Google DeepMind scoring a C, based on an average of scores on their risks assessments, safety frameworks, current harms, governance, information sharing, and existential safety.
xAI, Z.ai, Meta, and DeepSeek, all scored a D, with Alibaba Cloud scoring a D-, with all of them falling short in these categories.
The most obvious gaps exist in risk assessments, safety frameworks, and information sharing. Firms scoring low in these often have limited disclosure with weaker evidence of systematic safety processes, as well as uneven adoption of robust evaluation practices.
However, the existential safety emerged as a major gap across all the firms’ safety efforts, the report found.
While Future of Life Institute found that all of the companies were racing towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) or superintelligence, but lack explicit plans for controlling these advances, or at least aligning them with current ethical standards. These risky advancements have therefore been left largely unaddressed, even by the more safety aware firms.
While Anthropic, the maker of Claude, and OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker, find themselves at the top of the class, none of the firms seem to be performing well overall.
Anthropic however has sustained its leadership with a C+ score of 2.67 (the scoring uses a US GPA system, with an A+ equating to 4.3, and an A equal to 4.0), with its high transparency and well developed safety framework. While it has invested in technical safety research and government commitments, it faltered on its shift toward using users interaction for training by default, and its lack of a human uplift trial in its latest risk-assessment.
Those scoring a D and below face major gaps across the board, though Meta’s new safety framework is shown improvement, with xAI formalising its framework, and Z.ai has said an existential-risk plan is in development.
Overall, while firms have made improvements, each company scores well below the emerging standards from regulations such as the EU AI Code of Practice.
The review found that organisations still fail to meet even the most basic safety requirements, such as independent oversight, transparent threat modelling, measurable thresholds, and clearly defined mitigation triggers.
The Police Digital Services has announced a new partnership with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, aimed at enhancing digital capability, professional standards, and career development across UK policing.
The collaboration aims to provide police staff and officers with access to BCS membership and expertise, supporting the development of technical skills and fostering innovation across law enforcement.
As part of the agreement, policing will have access to 470 membership places with BCS – the UK’s professional body for IT professionals – open to all territorial forces (10 per force), plus Police Service Northern Ireland, British Transport Police, College of Policing, and the National Crime Agency.
Through this partnership agreement, forces will be supported by BCS and have access to a wide range of resources and services for their continuing professional development.
The implementation will include close working with the College of Policing to factor into wider training and capability development for policing.
The partnership enables policing to benefit from the high professional standards and recognised registrations offered through BCS, which has a royal charter.
These include pathways such as MBCS, RITTech and CITP, which demonstrate a clear commitment to ethical and high-quality IT practice.
Members will also have access to workforce planning and digital skills development tools built around established frameworks including SFIAplus and the Government Digital and Data framework (formerly DDaT).
These resources support role design, skills assessments and effective digital career planning, helping PDS and policing teams shape the digital workforce of the future.
By strengthening both professional capability and ethical digital practice, the partnership also underpins public confidence in how technology and data are used to keep people safe.
The collaboration reflects PDS’ commitment to delivering the ambitions of the National Policing Digital Strategy 2025-2030, which focuses on modernising technology, improving data driven decision making, and ensuring public safety in an increasingly digital world.
Chief Constable Rob Carden, NPCC Lead for Digital, Data and Technology, welcomed the partnership, stating: “Digital, data and technology is pivotal to the success of wider police reform. It drives better prevention and detection of crime, increases efficiency and enhances public safety.
“I’m delighted to be working with the British Computer Society, ensuring that our people can become more digitally literate; with the skills and knowledge needed to harness technology effectively and responsibly.
“This partnership is an important step in ensuring policing remains agile, innovative, and equipped to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving digital world.”
Sharron Gunn, CEO of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, said: “This partnership reflects our shared ambition to build a digitally confident and ethically grounded policing workforce.
“By supporting officers and staff to develop recognised professional skills, we’re strengthening the foundations of public trust in how technology and data are used. We are proud to work with PDS to help ensure policing has the digital capability it needs to keep our communities safe.”
The partnership will run for an initial 12 month period, with options to expand access to BCS resources as demand grows. It forms part of PDS’ broader strategy to build a digitally skilled workforce and deepen collaboration between policing and the technology sector.
A look back at cybersecurity this year is a look back at some of the most high-profile cyber-attacks to rock the UK in years.
UK retail was terrorised by a merciless round of cyber-attacks coordinated by Scattered Spider, targeting Co-op, Marks and Spencer’s, and Harrods, costing the supermarket titans millions. M&S took months to recover fully, with the attacks leaving the rest of the retail industry shaking in fear.
More recently, Jaguar Land Rover faced one of the most expensive cyber-attacks the UK has ever seen (around £1.9bn), with the ransomware attack disabling much of the car manufacturer’s operations.
While the private sector has faced a torrent of cyber-attacks, the public sector in the UK also felt the heat of evolving and emerging cyber threats.
Several NHS boards faced data breaches, and the West Lothian Council faced a major ransomware attack this year that attempted to bring its educational system to its knees.
At DIGIT Expo 2025, Ian Forrest of West Lothian Council and Ian McGowan of cybersecurity firm Barrier Networks gave delegates a first-hand account of the ransomware attack that took place just this May and is still under active investigation.
Under Attack
Ian Forrest woke up on the 6th of May to a ping on his phone at around 7am – the first of many.
On the Tuesday morning, teachers working in West Lothian attempting to log into their school systems were met with a GPO logon screen alerting them that their accounts have been compromised, their data was encrypted, and they needed to pay a ransom in order to retrieve it.
“Obviously, the teachers are a little bit scared,” Forrest said. When the news hit Forrest, the head of IT at West Lothian Council, his team began their investigation.
The IT team quickly began to investigate its firewalls, and identified invalid traffic across its education network.
“At that point we disabled staff access just to stop the traffic from hitting these systems,” Forrest said. The speed of reaction is vital in mitigating the damaging effects of a cyber-attack. For instance, while Co-op’s systems did face detrimental damage due to its cyber-attack, it avoided much worse potential circumstances by shutting its systems down sooner, rather than keeping them open to both customers and attackers.
“For most organisations, cyber-attacks don’t happen very often, so it’s a shock to the system,” McGowan said.
However shocking this is, the ripple effect of initial shock can be mitigated with proper incident planning.
Adopting a “when is now” defence strategy is key in today’s world of evolving and ever-present cyber threats.
“When not if, is the new norm” Forrest said, “We should all be planning for when it happens, not if it happens. If an actor really wants to compromise your systems, they will. It’s how you prepare for that scenario and ultimately deal with it.”
West Lothian Council dealt with that reality by implementation of a Cyber Incident Response Plan (CIRP) that streamlined their overall response.
But beyond this, the council also developed their existing business continuity plans across all their services, enabling different teams to understand how to operate under various cyber incidents. In some cases, businesses would have plans in place on how to operate without any internet access, if they were cut off from their overall systems or different data stacks.
With this in mind, 48 hours into the West Lothian Council attack, the IT team was already making good use of the Cyber Incident Response Plan and was focused on communication across departments, third parties, and cyber agencies to delve into the problem and mitigate any fallout. Meanwhile, affected services, in this case education, were already underway in their business continuity plans.
“So within those first 48 hours there was a lot going on with this communication process,” Forrest said.
“We had to update our partners” – which included third-party partners, infrastructure stakeholders, and cybersecurity agencies in a bid “to give assurances at the early stage around the incident, that it had been contained, and the measures we put in place to do that.”
Defence in Action
Upon discovering the invalid traffic, one of the decisions Forrest said made the biggest impact in their incident response was in blocking off the affected system.
But this relied on a system of domain segmentation – West Lothian Council operates in three segregated domains in its server infrastructure. This includes a corporate network, an education network, and a public access network.
The data involved in these systems are segregated from other departments on three levels, through a physical data level, a virtual firewall, as well as a physical appliance.
“At the time of the incident, we were able to see the traffic within the education network, and we were able to block the VRF so that it could not communicate anymore with the outside world, disabled internal VLANS within the network to prevent any communication between user networks and server networks.”
The team was also able to block the external IP addresses and seek communication as well. West Lothian Council also employs a 24/7 service that they engaged with in order to start identifying the compromise.
Communication continued to be paramount in every stage of the council’s response tactic, but the main factor that made a difference in their response was in their preparation.
Making Practice Perfect
Forrest is not comfortable with only running cyber desktop exercises – they can give a false sense of security, literally.
One of the things that set West Lothian Council apart in its cyber breach preparation – with regards to staging a ransomware software attack – was creating its own fake ransomware and ‘infecting’ their systems, going so far as to pretend to ‘encrypt’ their own data to run a more true-to-life test.
For Forrest, it is not just as simple as creating a CIRP and a business continuity plan, or running training.
“Are you updating your user awareness training, are you refreshing that on a daily basis to be aware of the evolving landscape? Are you thinking about how to make these exercises more engaging to individuals rather than to just catch them out?”
Intense, true-to-life training and testing of systems and the people behind them is essential in ensuring that a response to a cyber incident is swift and effective.
When West Lothian Council discovered the damage from the ransomware attack, it turned out the culprit, Interlock -a notorious ransomware group that had cropped up in the past couple of years – had done some interesting things with the Councils’ data.
While data had been stolen, they encrypted the C-drive rather than the data, making the data itself available to a certain degree. Essentially, the data was still there despite the culprits encrypting backups.
“It was kind of untoward,” Forrest said.
While much of the potential damage of the cyber-attack was therefore mitigated by the nature of the attack itself, as well as the Council’s robust response, the security team was still able to use this as a learning experience.
Improving end point security, introducing greater security practices and controls, and moving education data fully into the cloud were some of the major landscape changes the Council took following the attack.
But more key to the Councils’ response was a change in culture.
The education department had, according to Forrest, largely been resistant to increased security measures which could impact teaching and learning across education.
“One example would be the discussion on the use of complex passwords of which younger learners would find difficult to remember,” Forrest said.
This cyber-attack however ensured that the IT department could push for more stringent protocols. As teachers could directly see the fallout of lesser cyber hygiene, it was easier to make the argument to the board to push for greater changes and awareness.
Discovering how the attack occurred also gave the IT department more authority in fighting for improved cybersecurity posture overall.
It was a couple of months before the team identified patient zero for the cyber-attack, which turned out to be a compromised website and compromised security captcha.
“Everyone was fairly relieved when they found it, because it could put some rationality about how this happened, and it gave justification for us,” Forrest said.
“Its something that is easily done, something you could do tonight at home accessing the internet,” Forrest explained.
Making sure that people understand how easily these things can happen, and taking a “when, not if” approach, can make a huge difference in the overall cyber posture of an organisation.
The incident made it clearer to education and the overall council board that they needed to let IT take the lead on cybersecurity. Stronger passwords and MFA are the new norm across the department, while devices were replaced and issued with tightened security tools.
UK venture capital market continues to perform well as UK funds launched after 2020 outperform US funds, and earlier vintages performed in line with the Rest of Europe.
This is according to new research from the British Business Bank, which found that UK VC funds with 2020-2023 vintages generated a pooled Total Value to Paid-in-Capital (TVPI) multiple of 1.22, outperforming the US as 1.14.
Whilst historically US VC returns were perceived by many commentators to be substantially higher than UK funds, this research indicates the UK market has been more resilient than its counterparts for funds launched since 2020.
UK VC funds across the earlier 2002-2020 vintage period also performed well compared with the Rest of Europe but were behind the US, though the gap has narrowed compared to last year. UK funds generated a pooled TVPI multiple of 1.84, compared to 1.95 for US funds and 1.85 for funds across the rest of Europe.
When focusing on realised returns, the UK’s pooled Distributions to Paid-In Capital (DPI) of 0.69, whilst lower than the US (0.99), is in line with the rest of Europe (0.70), though UK funds are younger on average meaning they have had less time to achieve exits and return capital to investors.
To assess changes in fund performance over the past year, the Bank’s report also analysed a sample of 149 UK funds that reported performance data in both 2024 and 2025, covering data up to March 2025. The UK’s pooled TVPI value for this sample of 1.51 remained in line with last year’s figure (1.52).
After a decline in the pooled TVPI of 7% in the Bank’s 2024 UK VC Financial Returns report and 9% in the 2023 report, this latest data indicates that UK fund managers are no longer writing down portfolio valuations to the same extent and implies a recovery in deal valuations over the past year.
After a steady decline since the market downturn in 2022, this year’s report also found that the median valuation for UK company-level VC deals increased by 5% in the year to 2025 Q1, indicating a recovery in the level of competition in the market.
“It is encouraging to see signs that UK VC returns have stabilised over the past year and that valuations have increased. Despite the challenging environment, recent UK funds have been fairly resilient, outperforming recent US funds, whilst long-term performance has been in line with the Rest of Europe,” Matt Adey, Chief Economist at the British Business Bank said.
“Our survey data shows that exit conditions are gradually improving, and over three quarters of General Partners see the quality of the UK market as good or very good, representing a significant improvement on last year’s survey.”
The Bank’s survey of 50 UK fund managers found that whilst the exit environment remains challenging, over two thirds (68%) of General Partners (GPs) expect conditions to improve over the next year.
Over three-quarters (79%) of GPs also see the quality of investment opportunities in the UK market as good or very good. This represents a significant improvement on last year’s survey and indicates that investors recognise the strength of the UK innovation ecosystem.
Opportunities in the Eight Industrial Strategy Sectors
Looking specifically at the eight growth-driving sectors in the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy, the survey found that digital and technologies was the sector with the strongest investment appetite, with 85% of GPs considering investing in the sector, followed by financial services (64%) and life sciences (47%).
“Venture capital plays a key role in supporting exciting and ambitious businesses across the country and it is encouraging to see UK VC delivering returns that outperform the US since 2020,” Michael Moore, Chief Executive at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) said.
“The opportunity in UK VC is significant, with returns significantly outperforming public markets over a 10-year time horizon and venture capital’s backing of ambitious SMEs supporting economic growth across the UK’s nations and regions.”
The UK government is looking to update its energy grid in a bid to support its AI ambitions, as AI and energy ministers met to discuss accelerating energy grid connections and infrastructure build.
Joined by regulators and representatives from the energy and tech sectors, AI minister Kanishka Narayan and energy ministers Lord Vallance and Michael Shanks discussed progress on government action to accelerate connections for AI data centres.
This includes steps to reduce potential pressures on the energy network by supporting data centres based in AI Growth Zones with significant discounts on their electricity bills in instances where they will be able to harness excess capacity.
The AI Minister reflected on how AI has become a key driver of the government’s missions on growth and prosperity, noting the recent announcements of new AI Growth Zones for North East England, and North and South Wales.
Discussions also covered the recently-announced package of reforms to support the delivery of AI Growth Zones, particularly highlighting how AI Growth Zone infrastructure projects will benefit from plans to accelerate grid access.
The discussions come at a tumultuous time for data centres and AI ambition, as London Assembly’s Planning and Regeneration Committee issued a warning that data centre plans in the region could delay housing expansion due to increasing energy demand.
“AI Growth Zones are about creating jobs and unlocking long-term investment for every single community, right across the UK. We’ve already taken bold steps to reform the grid and now we’re making sure those changes deliver results,” said Narayan ahead of the Council meeting.
“By teaming up with tech companies, energy providers and regulators, we’re freeing grid capacity for the projects that matter most.
“Businesses now have even greater confidence to invest, local economies an even greater boost, and our public services an even greater chance to use AI to serve our communities.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced it will be scrutinising how popular mobile games played by UK children are protecting their online privacy.
With around 90% of UK children playing games on digital devices, it will launch a monitoring programme targeting 10 popular mobile games.
The review will assess the games’ compliance with default privacy settings, their geolocation controls, and their targeted advertising practices. It will also consider any other privacy issues identified during the review process.
The ICO says that 84% of parents are concerned about their children’s potential exposure to strangers or harmful content through mobile games, including half (50%) who are ‘very concerned’.
Three in four parents also say they are concerned about their children sharing personal data (76%) and data collection by game companies to serve ads (75%).
Meanwhile, 30% say their children have stopped using a mobile game because they – the parent/carer or child – were concerned about the data the game collected, or how the information was used.
The ICO’s focus on mobile games follows significant progress in improving children’s privacy standards across social media and video-sharing platforms through the ICO’s Children’s code strategy.
The ICO’s previous interventions resulted in social media and video sharing platforms making changes to improve their data protection practices. These changes have already reached over three million children, with the potential to improve online privacy for up to 11.7 million children in the UK.
“Children’s online experiences are shaped not just by social media and video sharing platforms, but also by the games they play,” John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, said.
“Our early review suggests that many mobile games’ design features can be especially intrusive, raising important questions about how these games are designed and experienced, and their adherence to the ICO’s Children’s code standards.
“We’re expanding our strategy to ensure that mobile games meet the same high standards of data protection we’ve driven across other platforms.”
UK IT leaders are doubling down on artificial intelligence, but are doing so under pressure to rein in spending and manage escalating security risks, according to new research from Flexera.
The 2026 Flexera IT Priorities Report reveals that more than a third (37%) of UK IT decision- makers have made AI integration their number one priority for the year ahead, outpacing traditional focus areas like cost optimisation (26%) and security risk reduction (25%).
Nearly all respondents (98%) say employees are already developing ways to embed AI into their products and services, with 95% confirming they are continuously looking for new opportunities to integrate AI into their technology stack.
Yet, one in three (30%) admit that AI integration remains their biggest unsolved challenge, highlighting the tension between innovation ambitions and operational readiness.
As budgets tighten and threats rise, UK IT leaders are under pressure to deliver measurable business value from AI while maintaining resilience and compliance. While AI offers solutions to these continual quandaries, the novel technology also presents its own risks and governance challenges.
“AI has become the defining priority for UK IT leaders. However, the challenge lies in doing it sustainably,” Marlon Oliver, Senior Vice President, EMEA at Flexera said.
“IT teams are being asked to innovate faster, cut costs and strengthen security —all at the same time. That’s where visibility and control become critical. Organisations that can see, understand and optimise their technology footprint will be the ones that turn AI from hype into real business advantage.”
Scottish councils are being urged to learn from the immediate and ongoing impacts of the significant cyber-attack on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, which took place in 2023.
The attack caused immediate, severe, and prolonged disruption, with the impact most significant for the council’s finance team. It caused the near total loss of use of the data held on its servers.
The November 2023 cyber-attack saw the Western Isles council’s website go down as its IT system was severely disrupted. The Council got in touch with Police Scotland to aid them in their investigation. The cyber-attack was estimated to cost the council potentially half a million pounds to recover from.
The Accounts Commission of Audit Scotland, upon its review of the cyber-attack, recognised that the council took swift action to protect systems and prioritise front-line services and payments to staff and suppliers.
However, it says that the council’s business continuity plans had not fully anticipated the scale of the attack, and action had not been taken to address previous weaknesses in IT and cyber governance.
Audit Scotland claims that if the council had been better prepared, it is possible that the attack’s impact may have been reduced.
“This cyber-attack shows how exposed local government is, and the urgent need to test resilience and recovery arrangements,” Jo Armstrong, chair of the Accounts Commission, said.
“Councils need to assume that it’s a case of when, not if, they are attacked. A collective approach is needed to prepare councils for an increasingly digital future – they must collaborate, learn from each other and work closely with partners, including the Scottish Government.
“Comhairle nan Eilean Siar staff went above and beyond to mitigate the impacts on service users, suppliers and the local community.
“This increased pressure on staff as they took on additional work, alongside dealing with day-to-day responsibilities. We want the council to take action to improve how they communicate and support staff during significant events that could increase workload and stress.”
It’s been three years since the launch of ChatGPT – since then, it has transformed people’s everyday lives and fundamentally altered workplace communication, impacting everything from small talk and politeness, to writing skills and speech.
This is according to research from The Adaptavist Group, which surveyed 4,000 knowledge workers and 900 business leaders responsible for implementing AI across the UK, US, Canada, and Germany.
The findings show that while many workers credit AI with improving clarity, confidence, and productivity, significant proportions raised concerns about ‘addiction’, declining politeness, and the erosion of core skills.
A Jack of All Trades
AI has rapidly become not just a go-to ‘colleague’ for millions of professionals, but a must-have element in many tasks once handled exclusively by humans.
Nearly half of AI implementers (48%) now consult AI on legal or policy issues, and 41% use it for HR-related matters.
Meanwhile, one in four knowledge workers (26%) said they’d rather engage in small talk with an AI bot than with a human, rising to 32% among business leaders responsible for AI deployment.
As a result, 32% of workers are speaking to colleagues less since using GenAI, showing how the technology is having a seismic impact on workplace relationships.
Notably, the study revealed that men reported a steeper decline in interpersonal communication than women, with 36% saying they now speak to colleagues less, versus 28% of women. With men around the world facing a loneliness epidemic, the findings are particularly noteworthy.
The preference of an AI chatbot over a human for ‘small talk’ is particularly strong among younger professionals aged 25-44 (30%), compared with just 15% of those over 55. Across markets, the US leads the shift toward AI-led interaction (34%), compared to 25% in the UK, 23% in Canada, and 21% in Germany.
Reliance on GenAI has become so ingrained in workplaces that one-third of workers (35%) believe they’re ‘addicted’ to using it.
Rudeness In Real Life
The research also points to evolving workplace dynamics. Over a quarter (26%) admit to being less polite since using GenAI. Among AI implementers, this figure rises to 39%.
However, the advent of AI has also improved communication on multiple fronts, changing how people speak to one another. About half (49%) say they now speak more succinctly, while 55% believe that their colleagues communicate more clearly. About two-thirds also note clearer writing since adopting AI tools.
More broadly, 45% of respondents believe AI is creating divides between leaders and their teams. Previous data from The Adaptavist Group showed that high earners have significantly greater access to AI tools and training, suggesting that AI adoption may be widening the gap between leaders who benefit more from extra training and access, and employees who are being overlooked.
This divide may also reflect that more leaders than employees prefer speaking to AI rather than to humans (32% vs. 26%), potentially hindering real-life relationships and reducing the opportunity for social knowledge sharing.
AI Advantage or Atrophy?
When it comes to AI’s impact on skills, the picture is divided. While 29% of workers worry their abilities are declining due to reliance on AI, a larger number (68%) believe the technology is helping them develop new capabilities.
These improvements range from improved writing (62%) to better coding (38%), as well as stronger design skills (41%) and even enhanced critical thinking (47%).
The research underscores that organisational culture, not technology, is the true differentiator in AI success.
Companies that actively encourage responsible experimentation and learning with AI see markedly stronger outcomes.
The majority (89%) reported growing skills in AI-friendly organisations, versus (59%) where AI is merely tolerated.
When it comes to job satisfaction, 54% in AI-encouraging cultures report significantly improved satisfaction, compared to just 8% where it’s discouraged.
Companies that encourage AI use report significantly better team collaboration (68%) than those that discourage it (23%).
Overall, 73% of organisations that promote use successfully prove AI ROI, versus just 36% of those that discourage it.
“As GenAI continues to embed itself in society, we’re seeing a shift in how work gets done and how people connect and communicate. Evidently, AI can make us more efficient and articulate, but it also risks eroding some soft skills and driving a wedge between human interaction,” Neal Riley, AI innovation lead at the Adaptavist Group said.
“Finding the right balance with AI so that you see all the benefits, and reduce the drawbacks, is all about cultivating the right environment. Evidently when organisations have the right culture in place, they see stronger performance, clearer communication, and measurable business returns.
“The key to achieving a culture where AI use remains healthy and work-conducive is one which encourages responsible AI experimentation, and has a framework for measuring success.”
OpenAI announced that a third-party supplier data breach may have exposed some information of users of its API, ranging from personal emails to analytics data.
Mixpanel, a data analytics supplier, suffered a data breach when a threat actor gained unauthorised access to some of its systems, exposing a set of data which contained some amount of analytics information and customer data.
The incident and the investigation that followed resulted in OpenAI terminating its use of Mixpanel.
OpenAI uses Mixpanel for web analytics on the frontend interface for its API product to help the firm understand product usage and improve its API, and the incident affecting the third-party supplier occurred on the 9th of November.
Mixpanel shared the affected dataset with OpenAI on 25 November after informing the AI titan that they were investigating the incident.
OpenAI says that user profile information associated with use of its API may have been included in the data that was stolen from Mixpanel.
Breached information may have included names, email addresses, approximate coarse location data such as city, states, and countries, and any user IDs or organisations associated with an API account.
The operating system and browser used to access the API account, as well as referring websites, may also have been included in the dataset that was accessed in the incident.
Other OpenAI products, like ChatGPT, as well as related content and API usage data were not impacted by the third-party incident. The incident did not involve any unauthorised access to OpenAI’s infrastructure.
“This was not a breach of OpenAI’s systems. No chat, API requests, API usage data, passwords, credentials, API keys, payment details, or government IDs were compromised or exposed,” the company said in a blog post detailing the incident.
OpenAI said that as part f its security investigation, it removed Mixpanel from its production services, reviewed the datasets that had been affected, and are working with the firm to fully understand the incident.
“We are in the process of notifying impacted organizations, admins, and users directly,” the firm wrote. “While we have found no evidence of any effect on systems or data outside Mixpanel’s environment, we continue to monitor closely for any signs of misuse.”
The firm terminated its use of Mixpanel, saying that “Trust, security, and privacy are foundational to our products, our organization, and our mission.”
OpenAI also informed its API users to be wary of potential phishing or social engineering attacks that could arise against them as a result of the breached data.
While many European small businesses are eager to adopt digital and AI tools, they are held back not by resistance but by uncertainty, according to research from team.blue.
One of the clearest indicators: 30% of small businesses say they don’t know which digital tools they should be using, and more than 1 in 4 say they lack the skills or knowledge to get started. For older businesses, the gap is even more pronounced, with reluctance to adopt AI rising above 60% among those operating for more than a decade.
“Technology, especially AI, has outpaced the capacity of many small businesses to keep up,” said Claudio Corbetta, Group CEO of team.blue.
“What we’re seeing isn’t a gap in ambition or motivation, it’s a gap in comprehension and perception. Small businesses understand that AI has the potential be transformative, but the current eco system too often assumes a level of digital fluency that simply isn’t there yet.
“When we simplify the path and make tools genuinely usable, AI stops being intimidating and starts becoming a catalyst for creativity, efficiency and growth. The opportunity isn’t just to help small businesses adopt AI, but to empower them to shape what’s possible with it.”
Based on over 8,000 European companies in over 30 countries, the team.blue Digital Maturity Report shows that small businesses are overwhelmed by digital choice.
Three in ten (30%) don’t know which digital tools to use, while a quarter (26%) say they lack digital skills or confidence. One in five cite time and resource constraints as their biggest barrier.
The report shows that small businesses are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of digital choices and unclear pathways. Many report that digital technology feels complex and time-consuming, with one in five citing a lack of time or resources as a barrier to adoption.
What’s more, on average, small businesses rate their confidence in choosing and using digital tools at just six out of 10.
AI Adoption
AI is gaining traction, with nearly one in five businesses using it extensively and another third experimenting with it. Yet a quarter of respondents say they have no plans to use AI, a stance heavily concentrated among older, more established businesses (60%).
Trust remains a major impediment: almost half trust AI less than human-led work, citing concerns around data security, accuracy, and brand voice.
Interestingly, while just over half of respondents believe AI will make them more competitive, more than 22% feel they still don’t know enough to move on the subject.
The strongest demand from small businesses is not for new technology but for clearer, simpler support, with 26% stating that they don’t have the skills or knowledge in this area.
Half of respondents say step-by-step guidance would help them advance their digital capability, with 42% needing advice on what tools to use and 38% valuing related training and workshops.
“Digital tools only matter when they empower the people behind them,” said Jonas Dhaenens, founder and president of team.blue. “Our focus is on making that experience more accessible and secure, because the prosperity of small businesses directly shapes the vitality of our communities.”
As the UK seeks to compete on the global AI stage, the commensurate demand for infrastructure has brought concerns over data centre sustainability and water usage to the fore.
Scotland is famous for its abundance of water, with its iconic wet weather all year round, boggy grasslands, and plethora of lochs. But even we’re feeling the strain, with increasingly less rainfall equating to less available freshwater due to climate change.
This comes at a time when data centre infrastructure investment is also on the rise, with the UK Government striking numerous deals with major tech giants through the UK/US Tech Prosperity Deal, bringing £31bn in AI investment. But all this comes with a potentially grave environmental cost.
The stats of how much water and energy AI uses are sobering –even small figures quickly jump to terrifying when scaled with the amount of users asking AI chatbots to draft emails or answer queries.
But just how much water are data centres really using? Are they using the same supply that could go to safe drinking water, to water crops and livestock, or support a healthy environment?
In the UK, the answer is not a simple one.
To try and understand the connection between the UK’s water infrastructure and data centres, DIGIT spoke with Stephen Slessor, CEO of water technology company RSE and chair of British Water, a membership body for water businesses in the UK.
Slessor explains some of the issues of the UK’s water infrastructure system, and how these gaps in regulation and understanding are being exacerbated by the gung-ho race for computational power and sovereign data centres to fuel AI ambitions.
Some Of the Basics
How is water even connected to data centres and AI?
A bit of the basics: the internet and the data underpinning it are physical – or, at least, their ability to function is predicated upon physical infrastructure. Data centres are essentially where the magic happens – servers store the data that underpins the internet, AI, and any of your files stored in the ‘cloud’. In order to do this, data centres require a lot of energy, which generates a lot of heat – in order to stop servers from overheating, these data centers need to be cooled.
Water is one of the most efficient ways of cooling data centres en-masse, via cooling towers or air cooling systems. The more computational power – the more data being run on a server – the more energy required and therefore, the more water to dissipate heat.
Data centres use various methods to cool using water, with traditional data centers often using potable – or drinkable – water to avoid any sediment build up in the cooling system.
Some cooling systems are ‘open-loop’ systems, meaning that they are directly connected to the same mains pipes that go into your kitchen sink, and are continually replenished as water evaporates in the cooling process. Though potable water enters these systems, it does not exit as drinkable water due to the use of chemicals to stave off bacteria, and would need to be retreated to reenter mains pipes.
Other ‘closed-loop’ systems are more water efficient, using a set amount of water that is reused in the same system. Water is typically ‘caught’ following its evaporation and recondensed to be fed back into the same system. Still, these systems often rely on potable drinking water, and depending on the system, water could be lost and would need to be replenished.
Water is also required for the power plants supplying energy to the data centres, which will undergo more strain and require more water. Water will also be used in any wastewater treatment facility that is used in the data centre water supply chain.
While these data centres do not always use potable drinking water, they do require water that has gone under some form of treatment and would not be able to use salt water so pipes do not corrode and sediments do not build up in these intricate cooling systems.
What systems most UK data centres use, how much water they use, and if they really need to be using potable water, are all valid questions – but the answers depend on who you ask.
This leads to one of the major problems of understanding the impact these data centres will have on the UK’s water supply – which, again, is not nearly as plentiful as the grey skies and dreich days would have you believe.
Murky Waters
Part of the issue lies in reporting, both within and outside of data centres.
“There’s no data anywhere to give an accurate usage forecast for water requirements,” Slessor said.
Councils do not require data centre developers to include water usage on their delivery plans in the UK, and there is a lack of proper regulation in industrial water consumption reporting. Industry often self-report using their own metrics, creating an opaque picture for regulators and the wider water industry to sift through.
This leaves the water industry, environmental regulators, and the government largely in the dark, with potentially devastating consequences.
Further, the water usage within data centres is still largely unregulated and unknown – a myriad of systems exist using water to cool large data centres.
“There’s very little empirical evidence because these are all privately closed systems that nobody sees,” Slessor said.
While AI companies have issued their own estimations and studies on how much water it takes to train their AI models, and independent reviews have shown how much water goes into an AI search query or prompt response, how this actually works largely depends on a number of factors.
The location of a data centre, the computational requirements of the system it is cooling, as well as the water cooling system itself, will all affect the amount of actual water used to cool a data centre.
While data centres currently exist in the UK, the country has yet to host any hyperscaler data centres that can run AI.
“AI takes it to the next level purely because it’s a continual process of large language models learning constantly all the time – the computational power required to do that, is about five times that you would see in things like the cloud,” Slessor explains.
AI data centres will put even more strain on energy and water resources, with environmental advocates and politicians calling for more transparency surrounding the environmental impact of data centres.
The Labour government’s first AI growth zone was designated to Oxfordshire, a region that’s often noted as being water-stressed, located next to a new reservoir, sparking fears about potential water usage.
While the UK government is calling on a reduction of non-household water usage by about 9% by 2037-38, new data centre water usage could mean that any gains in water sustainability by businesses simply do not measure up to increasing demand.
Without proper reporting of data centre usage in planning reports or environmental assessments, the UK will be largely left in the dark when it comes to tracking water consumption as water-stress expands in areas across the country.
We Have the Technology
According to Slessor, we have the technology to mitigate a large part of the problematic water usage that comes with data centre hyperscalers.
While most UK data centres use potable water “there is no technical reason that we have to use potable water in data centres,” Slessor said.
However, this idea seems to be dominating current data centre discourse, Slessor said.
Treated waste water would be usable in data centres to cool them, according to Slessor. While potable water is often used to avoid sediment build up in the expensive equipment used to cool data centres, the technology to treat and reuse waste water for data centres exists and is being used in different hyperscaler AI data centres.
“The technology exists to transform water from a sewage treatment centre into water suitable for a data centre,” Slessor assured. “None of this is new technology.”
Location, Location
This brings us to the location of data centres. While Scotland may be touted as an ideal place to house heat-creating data centres, with its cooler climate and more readily available water sources, not all of Scotland is as suitable as popular opinion would have you believe.
Water scarcity is increasing in the east of Scotland, strained by a lack of rainfall and a higher population. Despite this, data centres continue to pop up in water-strained areas, such as the data centre in Cockenzie just outside of Edinburgh.
“I understand why they would do this – it was an old power plant, it works for jobs in the area, and we all want data centres, we need data centres,” Slessor said. “But when you look at water consumption, it just doesn’t make sense.”
Locating data centres on the wetter West coast which has more historical pipes, or in the colder, wetter highlands, would make more logical sense.
Misplacing these data centres has a huge infrastructure cost – “Scottish Water is having to build big transfer mains and new reservoirs to move water around the country to make it easy to get water for these areas.”
If potable water is continually used in areas facing increasing water scarcity, then the results could be dire for the public as well.
“People will turn their taps on and nothing will come out,” Slessor warned.
“There’s a lack of forethought going into this,” Slessor lamented.
From a lack of robust reporting requirements and data, to a piecemeal approach to planning, the data centre issue really exposes a long-time issue in the UK’s approach to managing one of life’s most precious resources, water.
“There’s no sort of single plan as to what data centre planning will look like, there’s no one single approval authority that looks at this from a system thinking approach,” Slessor explained.
Without proper reporting from data centres on their current water usage, minimal understanding of the technical opportunities and limitations of water cooling, and little forethought in the infrastructure demands of water, the UK’s entire water policy seems to be based on a fundamental falsehood that water is plentiful.
“There’s zero planning for any of the planning authorities to consider what the water resource needs are,” Slessor said, discussing data centres planned for the water-scarce area between London and Swindon.
At the moment, planning authorities are facing difficulties building houses in the area due to a lack of potable water resources, but data centres do not face the same environmental hurdles.
“The reality is that if data centres take commercial water out of these systems, then it’s going to increase the cost of water for everybody,” Slessor said.
Right now, hyperscaler data centres are largely concentrated in the US, which has its own faults when it comes to data centre environmental regulation. Households in areas adjacent to data centres have seen their water compromised, either through prices or through pollutants.
When asked if the UK government has enough regulation or infrastructure to prevent this from being a reality in the UK, Slessor said: “There’s nothing. Nobody’s coming to say, ‘hang on a minute, what about water?’”
When it comes to what is needed, Slessor wants data to start at the very basics, because that’s where the UK water regulation currently is.
“Just basic usage figures of data centres, water in versus water out, would be huge to generate a better understanding for future planning,” Slessor said.
“The infrastructure is there,” Slessor said. Sewage and water treatment facilities exist, and placing data centres near these instead of near urban centres would ease water strain in water scarce areas, which are only increasing in size.
Using non-potable water, and “not making 21st century decisions based on 20th century assumptions,” would also be a common sense regulatory way to improve the water efficiency of data centres.
“This would actually be an opportunity for water companies to reduce bills because instead of paying for treated water to go back into the environment, water companies could sell the treated water to data centres,” Slessor said.
This would increase water revenue for water companies, and the UK, with the potential to even lower prices for household water usage.
Further, legislation about what happens inside of a data centre – the cooling systems employed, their daily water usage and water reuse schemes – would also ensure that these data centres mitigate their environmental and societal harms.
But data centre water discourse is exposing a much deeper issue in the UK, from the government to the public. Water is not viewed as a valuable resource in the UK, not when you look directly at how it is regulated.
“The UK water infrastructure is years behind,” Slessor says, considering how water recycling is “endemic” in much of the world and is only beginning to take hold across the UK.
While the UK government has set out some guidelines and targets when it comes to water consumption, Slessor says that future planning when it comes to population growth and climate change is not taking industry into account.
“We’re only scratching the surface with AI,” he said. This is true in the technology in itself, as well as its environmental effect and strain. Current planning “will be out of date in the next five or ten years,” as water strain and technological innovation accelerate.
This all does play into a fundamental issue in Scotland. Scots on average use about 40% more water than the rest of the UK, largely under the assumption that Scotland is lush with water. But after a record-breaking dry summer and a winter that is unlikely to fully replenish our water supplies, we may need to change our tune.
Data centres and their water strain can present an opportunity for Scotland and the rest of the UK to reassess their relationship with water as a precious important resource integral to life, but also used as a utility in industry and technological advancements. Data centres are large and physical – the cloud is a real place – it’s hot metal that needs to be cooled down.
“We need data centres,” Slessor said. “But in the long term, how do we do that? We make them environmentally sustainable, and we make sure we are using water in a way that is suitable and values it as a resource rather than just something that comes out of a tap.”
Part of this is seeing water as a resource, but also understanding how it is used in myriad areas of our everyday lives – to produce food, materials, and sustain technology.
“It’s a wider societal change around valuing our environment and people don’t often see the connection between the environment, energy and water in their everyday lives,” Slessor said.
The Chancellor of Exchequer has announced the Autumn Budget, with tax rises and a scrap of the two-child benefit cap some of the major changes affecting the UK.
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced targeted investment in industrial strategy sectors across the UK with the introduction of two AI growth zones in Wales, creating more than 8,000 jobs and £17 million in Northern Ireland to strengthen UK external markets.
Reeves emphasised the importance of strategic public investment, stating that government procurement rules have been changed to allow the UK to “buy British” when national security is at stake, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence.
Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of Exchequer, said: “We have changed government procurement, so we can buy British when it’s crucial to our national security including … today for AI, driving innovation and building that great industry here in Britain.”
The Chancellor reiterated the government’s commitment to devolved growth, announcing £13 billion in flexible funding for local and regional leaders to bolster skills development, business support and infrastructure.
Reeves added: “These budget measures are the right choices for a fairer, a stronger, and a more secure Britain.”
The announcement follows revised projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which earlier this year halved the UK’s GDP growth forecast from 2% to around 1%. Since then, growth has already risen to 1.5%, indicating improving economic momentum.
Additional measures include an extension of business rates retention for West England, the Liverpool City Region and Cornwall until 2029. Defence spending will increase, with targeted investment in Portsmouth, Barrow and Plymouth, as well as further support for Team Derby and for growing defence industry hubs across the UK.
Reeves also reaffirmed major transport and rail commitments, maintaining the additional £120 billion in investment set out at the previous spending review. Key projects include the Lower Thames Crossing, continued development of city region transport networks, the Midlands Rail Hub and the TransPennine Route Upgrade.
The Chancellor further highlighted ongoing support for the Northern Growth Corridor, including Northern Powerhouse Rail, stressing that improved connectivity is vital for linking towns and cities and driving long-term regional growth.
UK tech leaders react
Karen Meechan, ScotlandIS chief executive “Today’s Budget presents a mixed picture for Scotland’s tech sector. The allocation of an additional £820 million for Scotland signals stronger fiscal foundations for public services and with that, the potential for renewed investment in infrastructure, skills and innovation. It’s also encouraging to see continued support for several industrial, decarbonisation and defence projects across Scotland.
“However, the extension of the UK-wide income-tax threshold freeze is still a concern for our sector. Over time, this ‘fiscal drag’ will create a significant tax burden on businesses and undermine Scotland’s ability to compete for talent. For start-ups and scale-ups already under pressure, this risks slowing growth.
“We welcome the widening of the eligibility margin for schemes like Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) that could help SMEs and scale-ups compete more effectively on a global stage. Similarly, the new procurement frameworks – particularly for AI – could be an incredibly promising change for Scotland if translated effectively. However, the real value of today’s announcements for Scotland will only become clear when the Scottish Budget is published in January and we see how the additional resources are allocated.
“Until then, we urge both UK and Scottish governments to work together to ensure policy and investment choices genuinely unlock growth, innovation and competitiveness for Scotland’s digital economy.”
John Lucey, VP EMEA at Cellebrite “The tidal wave of AI isn’t slowing down and for public sector organisations, particularly police forces, there is a growing pressure to reduce time to evidence,” John Lucey, VP EMEA at Cellebrite said.
“To achieve this, AI and automation are essential to streamline time-consuming tasks such as reporting and data analysis to save hours and millions in efficiency.
“Especially when connected to public safety, AI always needs human verification and oversight. People must be the ones to govern AI’s use cases, using it as an assistant to speed up otherwise menial and manual tasks.
“For policing, this means digital forensics teams can leverage AI to shorten case times through content classification, evidence prioritisation and automated device extraction to expedite verdicts.”
Stuart Harvey, CEO of Datactics
“AI is revolutionising public services to drive greater efficiency, innovation and economic growth, but to fully harness these advancements, the UK must prioritise strategic investment in data infrastructure and the responsible deployment of AI.
“Without robust systems to manage, analyse, and secure data, businesses and government departments risk falling behind in an increasingly competitive global market.”
“A strategic investment in data governance will help boost productivity and ensure the UK remains at the forefront of the AI boom while ensuring economic stability and long-term prosperity.”
Blake Richmond, CEO at Resonate Group “Our cities and regions are essential for growth, and freezing rail fares keeps train travel affordable, which not only eases the cost of commuting for workers but also supports the wider economy by encouraging spending, connecting people to jobs, and strengthening leisure market.”
“We welcome further investment in data technologies and AI, which are key to modernising rail industry processes. By adopting smarter, data-driven systems, creates more opportunities to develop AI to optimise these flows across an increasingly connected transport system, supporting long-term economic growth and regional development.”
Sheila Flavell, CBE, COO of FDM Group
“Scrapping the two-child benefit cap will be hugely beneficial for parents who want to return to work but have been held back by financial pressures. The cap had made it difficult for parents to get back into work and rebuild their careers after a break.”
“This new lift will ease the burden on families and open doors for parents who simply need the right support and flexibility to re-enter the tech sector.”
Has there ever been a greater example of sci-fi correctly envisioning what healthcare could look like in the future than that of robotic-assisted surgery?
While such concepts have partly remained in fictionalised realms, they have also undoubtedly helped to inspire real-world advancements which have gifted human surgeons enhanced precision and control, leading to better patient outcomes.
It is also undoubted that Scotland has played a leading role in realising those advancements.
Only this month, it was reported that Tayside-based expertise had been central to completing a world-first in robotic stroke surgery after Professor Iris Grunwald performed a robotic thrombectomy on a human cadaver.
The truly interesting part, however? She did this at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, while the body she was operating on with remote technological assistance was some distance away at the University of Dundee.
A few hours later, this was taken a significant step further when a neurosurgeon in Florida used the same technology to carry out the first transatlantic surgery to remove a blood clot from a human brain.
Ricardo Hanel achieved this feat from his Florida base by operating on a body situated in Dundee some 4,000 miles away.
It is thought to be a potentially transformative breakthrough for stroke care with delays in accessing specialist treatment known to have a direct impact on the chances of recovery.
It is also interesting to note that, against the backdrop of a global shortage of surgeons qualified to carry out the operation, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh are among the few cities where it is possible.
Indeed, the University of Dundee is the global training centre of the World Federation for Interventional Stroke Treatment.
Prof Grunwald said: “The technology truly bridges the gap between operator and patient, no matter the distance.”
Fittingly, she added: “It felt as if we were witnessing the first glimpse of the future.
“Where previously this was thought to be science fiction, we demonstrated that every step of the procedure can already be done.”
Scotland has also led the way in executing the first clinical cases of robotic aortic valve replacement (AVR) through a tiny incision in the neck, and this approach could potentially be applied to a wide range of cardiothoracic procedures.
Earlier this year, Glasgow-based CardioPrecision – a world leader in transcervical access for the treatment of structural heart disease – successfully extended its robotic-assisted procedure to patients with the use of its CoreVista® Robot Enabling Platform.
The company’s latest global breakthrough in robot-assisted transcervical AVR procedures came via its patented technology being utilised stateside at the Cleveland Clinic, considered by some to be the world’s best smart hospital, representing another fruitful transatlantic collaboration.
In 2024, CardioPrecision – a spinout of InnoScot Health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital – had first demonstrated a proof-of-concept AVATAR (Advanced Videoscopic Aortic surgery by Transcervical Approach using Robot-assistance) procedure for AVR in Chicago.
It has been exciting to watch it widen its scope from Scottish success, with three out of four cardiac centres in Scotland using its innovative technology, to making its mark on the international map.
The company, a global leader in its specialty, has taken major steps, particularly the US – currently the largest medical device market by value in the world – marking a significant scale up following recent investment from InnoScot Health and others.
Ideas originating within our NHS are transforming lives, creating employment, attracting investment, and showcasing Scotland as a truly entrepreneurial nation.
Indeed, across NHS Scotland, many significant robotic surgery milestones have been reached, demonstrating just how embedded the technology now is.
Back in August, University Hospital Hairmyres (UHH) completed a 500th robotic-assisted surgery since it was first conducted in 2022.
Across the past three years, the Da Vinci system of robotic surgery has been extended at UHH from only limited urology procedures to urology, colorectal, and more recently, gynaecology.
Indeed, NHS Scotland now has multiple systems in place across different health boards, including Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian, Grampian, Tayside, allowing for greater equity of access and patients to benefit from minimally invasive surgery with quicker recovery times.
Surgeons also benefit from the enhanced visualisation, dexterity, and precision that robotic-assisted surgical systems offer, while the health service itself has been able to increase productivity and reduce waiting lists.
Earlier this year, Stewart Miller, CEO of the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, said: “The future is being shaped by those who embrace robotics. Scotland has every reason to be among them. Let’s not just watch the robotics revolution – let’s lead it.”
Such tantalising ‘glimpses of the future’, as Prof Grunwald put it, are no longer the preserve of sci-fi tales, but are instead leaping off page and screen to push global surgical boundaries in Scotland’s operating theatres.
HP, the PC and printer multinational, has announced that it will cut up to 6,000 jobs by the end of 2028 as it stakes its bets on AI.
The firm made the layoff announcement in its earning report, which projected savings of about $1 billion by 2028, with the restructuring costing about $650 million.
The job cuts are set to impact product development, customer support, and internal operations teams, CEO Enrique Lores shared during a press briefing call.
HP cut around 1,000 to 2,000 jobs in February already this year.
Lores said: “Two years ago, we started to do some pilots on how AI could help us to drive these things. What we have learned is that we need to start from redesigning the process, and once we know how the process could be redone using AI, using agenetic AI, it can really have a very significant impact.”
While the CEO said that the firm ended 2025 strong, HP intends to grow “faster than the market” in 2026.
“We have a significant opportunity to embed AI in everything we do and transform the company.”
Despite the increased interested in AI PCs, HP’s stock share price fell as a result of the announcement, with its stock falling 25% year-on-year.
The cuts, which represent around 7% to 10% of HP’s global workforce, are part of the continued trend of tech giants turning to AI and abandoning human workers.
The restructuring initiative is a commonly cited reason for layoffs in the AI age, as agentic AI continues to impact junior and managerial roles across various departments.
The strategy aims to streamline HP’s operations, and also allow for further investment in AI, be it in the company’s own internal operations or in its products.
While the firm’s 2025 fourth quarter revenue – at $14.64 billion – beat estimations, its expected fiscal profit per share sits below LSEG analyst estimates.
The firm expects to be affected by increasing demand for and the rising prices of AI-enabled chips which power its AI-enabled PCs.
Ninety per cent of non-executive directors lack a measure of confidence in cybersecurity value, according to a new survey from Gartner, Inc.
Only 10% of non-executive directors express strong confidence in the value of cybersecurity investments or initiatives, stating they have the right balance of protection and cost.
Yet, non-executive directors’ scepticism in cybersecurity value is a resource for change. Sense-maker CIOs and CISOs, who form the cyber-elite and help their organisations understand and respond to complexity and change have managed to earn their boards’ trust on “just right” levels of protection and cost.
The 2026 Gartner Board of Directors Survey was conducted from April 14 – May 22, 2025 among 330 respondents from North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia/Pacific, who are in a non-executive director role of private or public companies.
“Boards often struggle to connect cybersecurity investments to real business outcomes,” said Kristin Moyer, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner.
“Dashboards and compliance updates can confuse rather than reassure, leaving non-executive directors uncertain about whether their organisation is truly more secure. Sense-maker CIOs and CISOs earn board consensus on right levels of protection and cost by translating the complexity of cybersecurity into business value such as revenue, cost and shareholder impact.”
Boards are seeking clear insights into how specific threats translate into real risks for their organisations.
Sense-maker CIOs and CISOs provide transparency on actual exposure levels and readiness for threats, moving beyond general cyber threat trends, to empower non-executive directors with the information needed for informed decisions.
Top External Threats Impacting Shareholder Value
While boards are seeking greater clarity on cyber risks, they also recognise that these risks are part of a broader set of external threats facing organisations today.
Seventy percent of non-executive directors identified geopolitical instability and international conflict as the most significant external threats to shareholder value in the next 12 months. Notably, one in three NEDs viewed cyber-risks, technology disruption and innovation challenges as top external threats to shareholder value in the year ahead.
“Virtually all NEDs have experienced a cybersecurity breach either as executive leaders or during their tenure as board members,” said Tina Nunno, Managing VP at Gartner. “New security regulations have placed this topic front-and-centre on board agendas. At the same time, AI is causing significant business disruption—and has gained considerable attention from boards.”
Although technology is viewed by non-executive directors as an emerging risk area to shareholder value—including AI’s disruptive potential—it is also seen as an essential lever for navigating volatility ahead.
Sixty-three percent of non-executive directors said investment in technology and innovation is the best way to counter today’s global volatility.
“The majority of non-executive directors not only believe that technology investment is a key strategy in dealing with volatility, but they also believe that the majority of those investments should be in AI,” said Nunno.
“AI was ranked as the number one investment (57% of respondents) expected to have a positive impact on shareholder value in the next two years, ahead of investing in new products and services (56%) and M&A (45%).
“Non-executive directors have taken notice of the vast sums of money being invested in AI startups and large language models (LLMs) and believe over time that at least some of these AI bets will pay off.
“The majority of boards (71%) would like to see their enterprises take more technology risk and are actively encouraging their CEOs and executive teams to demonstrate that they have an AI strategy and are moving quickly enough.”
Record public research funding will be explicitly directed towards supporting promising scale-ups, turbocharging economic growth and job opportunities through the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, and improving lives, as part of a shake-up of public R&D announced today.
The move reinforces the government’s push for national renewal, a Britain built for all, and a fairer economy that works for and rewards working people – work which will be further cemented through announcements at the Budget, later this week.
Addressing research funders and major business leaders from the UK and beyond, the Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said that public R&D funding had for too long been spread thinly across multiple priorities and projects and now was time for ‘doing fewer things, better’.
She outlined a ‘no-compromise’ approach that prioritises funding for the companies with the highest potential to grow into industry titans and into the sectors where the UK already retains a competitive advantage. Setting these priorities clearly, will support the national effort to build strong foundations for our economy and secure our country’s future.
UKRI is the country’s largest public research funder, giving it a central role in ensuring public money is invested in ambitious, pioneering research that will benefit the whole of the UK and provide a clear return on investment for hardworking taxpayers.
“Scientific research and development is fundamental to building a better Britain: from new treatments for cancer, to breakthroughs in clean, affordable energy,” Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said at the UKRI Growth Summit in London.
“There is no route to stronger growth in this country, no answer to how we pay our way, or compete with the rest of the world, without science, technology and innovation leading front and centre. But we must be smarter about what we prioritise, for these efforts to succeed.
“That is what today is all about. And by increasing funding for critical technologies like AI and engineering biology where the UK already excels, we can go even further.”
£9 billion of UKRI’s record £38.6 billion settlement will go towards backing the fields of research in which the UK is among the strongest in the world, like AI and quantum, which could deliver breakthroughs in healthcare or pioneering cybersecurity tech to keep our country safe from threats.
Funding for engineering biology will increase nearly three-fold, to £644 million, while funding for AI will more than double to £1.6 billion.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that breakthroughs in AI alone could boost productivity by as much as 1.5 percentage points a year, which could be worth up to an average £47 billion to the UK each year over a decade.
Quantum computing meanwhile could add over £11 billion to the UK’s GDP by 2045.
£8 billion will be allocated to funding research into the government’s priorities, including the Industrial Strategy’s priority areas and others like climate resilience and flood defence.
While another £7 billion will specifically fund innovative company growth to unlock the next generation of UK industry titans.
The third area that will see funding is £14 billion specifically for curiosity-driven research, which has been at the heart of great discoveries for generations – from the internet to medical breakthroughs that can treat a range of genetic diseases.
Universities will be key beneficiaries from UKRI’s record funding for R&D. Their core block grant and commercialisation funding from DSIT will grow in line with expected inflation over the Spending Review period.
Attracting top science and research talent to the UK, especially in the 8 key sectors of the Modern Industrial Strategy, is essential for achieving cutting-edge breakthroughs that economic growth, jobs, and entire new industries will be founded upon.
The Science Secretary has also revealed the progress being made in those efforts – with the first 4 world-leading researchers relocating to the UK through the £54 million Global Talent Fund. These lead researchers are expected to also bring up to 10 individuals to support their research projects from abroad.
A pioneering digital platform, dedicated to trauma prevention and management for frontline professionals, has secured funding of £1.2m from investors.
Sentinel has gained investment from SFC Capital, the University of Strathclyde and Scottish Enterprise. The funding round marks a major milestone in the company’s mission to deliver evidence-based, accessible support for people exposed to trauma in high-stress working environments, including healthcare, emergency services and defence.
SFC Capital, the UK’s most active early-stage investor, leads the round, alongside strategic investment from Strathclyde, whose partnership has been instrumental in shaping Sentinel’s research-led development. Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency, also joins as a key investor.
More than 1,000 frontline workers have contributed to the platform’s development through primary research and testing, ensuring that every feature reflects real-world challenges and needs.
The app, developed in partnership with Strathclyde’s Department of Psychological Sciences and Health, integrates the latest insights in neuroscience, digital health and trauma-informed design.
Sentinel CEO Mykay Kamara said: “The wellbeing of those who serve on the front lines is paramount. Sentinel exists to ensure that the people who protect and care for others receive the same care in return. This investment allows us to expand our impact and further develop our evidence-based tools for trauma prevention, management and recovery.”
Strathclyde made its investment through the Strathclyde Inspire Entrepreneurship Fund and the money was drawn from the University’s Stephen Young Entrepreneurship Awards.
Anne Henderson, Head of Investment at Strathclyde, said: “Our collaboration with Sentinel exemplifies Strathclyde’s commitment to research that delivers real-world impact. By combining cutting-edge psychological science with practical digital innovation, we are helping to foster resilience and post-traumatic growth among people exposed to trauma in their work.
“We are delighted to support Sentinel through the Strathclyde Inspire Entrepreneurs Fund and look forward to working closely with Mykay and the team as they grow and extend their positive impact globally.”
Derek Shaw, Director of Entrepreneurship and Investment at Scottish Enterprise, said: “This investment highlights our dedication to supporting the growth of ambitious business with scalable solutions. Scotland is a global leader in digital health and care and backing innovative companies such as Sentinel is key to maintaining that position and driving long-term economic impact.”
Adam Beveridge, Principal of SFC Capital, said: “Investing in Sentinel aligns with our mission to back startups driving meaningful change. The platform’s focus on mental health for frontline workers is both urgent and impactful, and we’re delighted to be part of their journey.”
The Sentinel app is available globally via major app stores and is currently being piloted across several NHS Trusts, where it supports staff wellbeing and workplace resilience initiatives.
The UK is aiming to strengthen its position is the global race for semiconductor dominance with £1.2 million going towards the National Physical Laboratory to lead an initiative exploring the technology.
The funding, provided by the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT), aims to support the project in addressing the critical bottlenecks that exist in the UK’s semiconductor strategy, as well as to establish new advances in metrology.
New standards in metrology will be required as semiconductors, which traditionally were made from silicon, evolve to rely on compounds such as silicon carbine, gallium arsenide, and gallium nitride.
As these more complex semiconductors are used increasingly in critical tech such as 5G and electric vehicles, being able to properly measure involved minerals and elements is essential in establishing the UK’s semiconductor capabilities.
“The semiconductor industry is evolving rapidly, driving breakthroughs in AI, quantum computing and advanced electronics,” Gareth Edwards, head of advanced manufacturing and material strategy at the National Physical Laboratory said.
“To compete globally, the UK must harness its strengths in research, innovation and precision measurement. Standards are key—they provide the framework that ensures reliability, interoperability and confidence across complex supply chains.
“This project brings together NPL’s world-leading metrology expertise with the technical capabilities of UK academia and industry to define standards for next-generation semiconductors.
“By doing so, we give the UK a strong global voice in shaping how these technologies are developed and adopted, strengthening supply chains, attracting investment and enabling British innovation to lead internationally.”
The project will be lead by the National Physical Laboratory, in partnership with Vishay Newport, GEN3, Custom Interconnect, Oxford Instruments, Swansea University, the University of Cambridge among others.
Don’t Miss Scotland’s Largest Tech Event of the Year – DIGIT Expo: 27th November
50 Speakers – 40 Exhibitors – 2000 Delegates
Don’t miss DIGIT Expo, Scotland’s largest annual tech gathering, taking place at the EICC in Edinburgh on 27th November. We have a stacked conference agenda with 5 Stages of leading edge content, including presenters from Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify, Morgan Stanley, Alibaba, and NVIDIA…
Ofcom has launched new industry guidance calling on big tech firms to deliver safer online experiences for women and girls in the UK.
Women and girls face distinct and serious risks online, including misogynistic abuse, sexual violence, coordinated pile-ons, stalking, coercive control, and intimate image abuse.
The guidance includes a wide range of practical safety measures that the regulator is urging tech firms to adopt to tackle these harms. This goes above and beyond what is needed to comply with their legal duties under the Online Safety Act.
The guidance was developed with insights from victims, survivors, safety experts, women’s advocacy groups and organisations working with men and boys.
Its launch is also supported by Sport England as part of their wider This Girl Can campaign, and WSL Football to raise awareness of women’s safety when taking part in sport and exercise.
Ofcom’s research delves into a world of commonplace abuse and harassment online, ranging from cyberbullying to intimate image abuse.
Almost all (98%) of intimate images reported to the Revenge Porn Helpline were of women, with 99% of deepfake intimate image abuse depicting women. 94% of those featured in deepfake pornography were women in the entertainment industry. New technology is only expanding the way misogynists can enact their hate.
About three-quarters (73%) of Gen Z social media users have witnessed misogynistic content online, with 20% of teenagers in just the last four weeks viewing online content that objectifies or demeans women.
Nearly 70% of boys aged 11-14 have been exposed to online content that promotes misogyny and other harmful views.
Some of Ofcom’s guidelines promote introducing prompts to time limits to discourage or reprimand users from sharing harmful content online. It also wants tech giants to alter their algorithms to promote diverse content and perspectives to avoid toxic echo chambers.
It also calls for posts that promote misogynistic abuse and sexual violence to be de-monetised, though it remains unclear what will designate these posts as abusive.
To prevent coordinated harassment, the guidelines encourage setting volume limits on posts, allowing users to block or mute multiple accounts, and the introduction of more sophisticated tools to enable better reporting.
For cyber-stalking, which is a criminal offence, Ofcom recommends bundling safety features to make it easier to remain private online, introducing better visibility restriction, and removing geolocation by default across apps.
Criminal offences involving non-consensual sharing of intimate images can be better prevented by using automated tech to detect and remove these images, blurring nudity, and signposting users to supportive information, Ofcom says.
“When I listen to women and girls who’ve experienced online abuse, their stories are deeply shocking,” Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, said.
“Survivors describe how a single image shared without their consent shattered their sense of self and safety. Journalists, politicians and athletes face relentless trolling while simply doing their jobs.
“No woman should have to think twice before expressing herself online, or worry about an abuser tracking her location.
“That’s why today we are sending a clear message to tech firms to step up and act in line with our practical industry guidance, to protect their female users against the very real online risks they face today.
“With the continued support of campaigners, advocacy groups and expert partners, we will hold companies to account and set a new standard for women’s and girls’ online safety in the UK.”
Don’t Miss Scotland’s Largest Tech Event of the Year – DIGIT Expo: 27th November
50 Speakers – 40 Exhibitors – 2000 Delegates
Don’t miss DIGIT Expo, Scotland’s largest annual tech gathering, taking place at the EICC in Edinburgh on 27th November. We have a stacked conference agenda with 5 Stages of leading edge content, including presenters from Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify, Morgan Stanley, Alibaba, and NVIDIA…
Revolut, the UK-based digital bank, has been valued at £57 billion, jumping from £34bn in its most recent share offer.
The share sale represents a 66% rise from last year, showing a growing appetite for alternative, digital-first finance solutions.
The share sale was led by investors Coatue, Greenoaks, Dragoneer and Fidelity, as well as Nvidia’s venture capital department, Andreessen Horowitz, and Franklin Templeton.
The private valuation makes Revolut, which is now ten years old, more valuable than Barclays.
“The level of investor interest and our new valuation reflect the strength of our business model, which is delivering both rapid growth and strong profitability,” Victor Stinga, Revolut’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.
The app-based finance service now has 65 million customers spanning nearly 48 countries, and gained its UK banking license just this year. The firm aims to reach 100 million customers globally by mid 2027.
Revolut offers credit cards, bank accounts, loans, and cryptocurrency trading to customers.
Despite the valuation, Revolut’s place in global fintech is potentially not replacing traditional banks. Much of its customer deposits are actually lower than that it traditional banks, and customers often do not use the app as their main bank account.
Still, the fintech sector is growing, as research from Boston Consulting Group shows that the sector was reaching maturity, seeing the industry grow three times more than the finance sector as a whole.
Ahead of the Autumn Budget, Revolut’s valuation may garner more confidence for other challenger fintech banking apps aiming to break the mould.
Don’t Miss Scotland’s Largest Tech Event of the Year – DIGIT Expo: 27th November
50 Speakers – 40 Exhibitors – 2000 Delegates
Don’t miss DIGIT Expo, Scotland’s largest annual tech gathering, taking place at the EICC in Edinburgh on 27th November. We have a stacked conference agenda with 5 Stages of leading edge content, including presenters from Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify, Morgan Stanley, Alibaba, and NVIDIA…
The British Business Bank released its five year strategic plan, which will see it prioritise scale-up support and take more risks in funding support.
The strategy comes after a mandate from the government to deliver a step change in how UK smaller businesses are financed.
The Bank’s overall mission is to drive economic growth by helping smaller businesses get the finance they need to start, scale, and stay in the UK.
Earlier this year, the Bank was given an increased permanent financial capacity of £25.6bn, and more flexibility to deliver.
A central tenant of the five year strategy is catalysing more capital, with the Bank aiming to increase its annual deployment by two-thirds, unlocking around £26bn of private capital alongside £13bn of its funding, and enabling up to £10bn in smaller business lending through guarantees.
The Bank will also take on additional risk, including through providing the first capital in deals that support emerging technologies where the UK can lead globally. Its greater risk appetite will be used at portfolio level to prioritise deployment to Industrial Strategy sectors.
It will target over 60% of venture and venture-growth investment towards scale-ups, with the ability to write larger cheques – over £100m – into the best growth-stage funds.
The strategy will also see the Bank make more direct investments, increasing the number and size of these investments so strategically important scale-ups can raise domestic capital and grow at home.
To unlock potential across the country, the Bank is set to deliver 85,000 new Start Up Loans and commit £150m to Community Development Finance Institutions to support underserved groups.
It will also increase regional investment and support the development of regional science and innovation clusters, new regional angel networks, and establish two new regional investment funds in the East and South East of England.
Overall, the Bank says it will reform its governance and operating model to give itself greater licence to operate flexibly, and streamline internal processes to make faster investment decisions.
“By 2030, our ambition is clear: a more dynamic and inclusive finance ecosystem, where innovative and ambitious companies – wherever they are based and whoever leads them – can access the capital they need not only to get started, but to scale, stay, and succeed here in the UK,” Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank, said.
“Our planned activity over the next five years is expected to fund around 180,000 businesses, support the creation of around 370,000 new jobs, crowd in £26bn of additional private capital and help deliver £68bn of benefit to the economy.”
Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, said: “Our small businesses have ambition and bright ideas in abundance, but too often they lack the finance they need to reach their full potential here in the UK, and as a result, our economy suffers.
“This has to change and with this new 5-year plan it will. The Bank is increasing its pace of investment by two thirds, with a whopping £4 billion boost for the most promising businesses in our Industrial Strategy sectors, supporting tens of thousands of businesses, creating jobs, and driving growth.”
Fifty-two percent of government CIOs (not including the U.S.) expect their IT budgets to increase for AI and other key technologies in 2026, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.
This is despite overall budget pressures, with governments recognising their transformational potential for modernising public services and achieving critical mission objectives.
The 2026 Gartner CIO and Technology Executive Survey gathered data from 2,501 respondents from May 1 to June 30, 2025, including 284 government CIOs (not including the U.S.).
“Geopolitical shifts and economic volatility are forcing government CIOs to rapidly adjust their priorities for next year,” said Arthur Mickoleit, Director Analyst at Gartner. “They are being asked to demonstrate the mission impact of technology investments – including, but not limited to, cost savings and user experience.”
The top four technologies government CIOs (not including the U.S.) plan to increase investments in next year are cybersecurity (85%), AI (80%), generative AI (80%) and cloud platforms (76%).
According to the survey, 74% of government CIOs (not including the U.S.) have already deployed or plan to deploy AI within the next 12 months, with GenAI higher at 78%.
Interest in AI agents is also rising, with 49% reporting current or planned deployment in the next 12 months.
“Agentic AI is emerging as an enabler of government transformation, but CIOs must remain mindful of the hype that can distract from more mature technologies like machine learning and business process automation,” said Mickoleit.
“This next wave of innovation will be essential for delivering on public sector priorities, especially as expectations are high following years of investments in digital government.”
The survey reveals high expectations for both AI and other key technologies as government leaders focus on building a more productive workforce in 2026.
More than half (51%) of government CIOs (not including the U.S.) will increase focus on boosting employee productivity next year, followed by launching new digital products and services (38%) and improving the overall citizen experience (37%).
“CIOs should prioritise AI initiatives that rapidly improve internal efficiency and productivity,” said Mickoleit.
“At the same time, governance practices must be updated to modernise procurement, manage limited resources and balance risks with opportunities in citizen-facing AI applications.”
According to the survey, 55% of government CIOs (not including the U.S.) expect changes in how they engage with technology providers due to rising geopolitical tensions and digital sovereignty concerns.
Location is now a defining factor in procurement decisions next to cost or scale, with 39% of government CIOs (not including the U.S.) planning to work closer with technology providers based in their own region.
“Government CIOs are increasingly seeking to reduce dependence on global technology vendors to strengthen resilience,” said Mickoleit.
“Many are now factoring geopolitical risk into vendor selection and long-term planning. Mapping risks and dependencies across public sector technology stacks will ensure they can mitigate and absorb future disruptions.”
The SME survey by Elevator reveals that Scotland’s SMEs are adopting AI, planning to hiring, and hunger for more support.
Elevator found that 2 out of 3 business owners want more external support with their business, with only half having accessed external finance. Forty percent of SMEs say access to finance is their biggest roadblock to growth, followed by talent (27%).
The survey found that 74% of SMEs in Scotland are already using AI in their business, while 55% plan to invest in innovation and new technology.
Seventy-two percent SMEs cited the importance of local community to the success of their business.
The inaugural SME survey by business support organisation Elevator found that, in spite of growth challenges, 75% of respondents are either “extremely confident” or “somewhat confident” about their business prospects in the year ahead.
Elevator CEO Rachel Ross said: “While it’s encouraging to see the level of confidence in the Scottish SME sector, the survey has also revealed that the nation’s SME leaders want more external support, and that there are national disparities. Crucially, access to finance and understanding finance options remains a serious issue for businesses across the country.”
Sixty per cent of respondents said grants are their primary source of external finance, 21% said debt finance, with 14% securing equity finance as their primary source. 43% have received support from Business Gateway, 28% from Scottish Enterprise, 13% from Scottish Government, 11% from UK Government, and 6% from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
About half (51% of respondents said their revenue increased in their last financial year, while about a quarter (23%) said their revenue decreased, and 26% said their revenue stayed at a similar level. Around four in ten (40%) of Scottish SMEs export outside the UK, with Europe the top export region ahead of North America and Asia.
Over eight in ten (83%) said they don’t have a CFO, with three in four (75%) not having a company board, while 85% do not have a non-executive director.
On the importance of local community to business success, around 80% of Scottish SMEs said local community was “extremely important” or “somewhat important” to the success of their business. The vast majority (92%) said they believe entrepreneurship can build community wealth in Scotland.
“Community and the role of entrepreneurship in building community wealth is overwhelmingly important to our SMEs in Scotland, and we think that is one the most interesting findings to come out of our survey,” Ross said.
Asked what impact stronger local entrepreneurship would have in their area, Scottish SME leaders said more local jobs (77%), more opportunities for young people (68%), increased local pride and confidence (62%), better local services (57%), and stronger local supply chains (55%).
Local councils are set to benefit from UK government-led digital transformation to their services.
The new GDS Local unit within the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) will work to make everyday tasks across local services faster and easier for residents through a dedicated team of central and local government tech experts.
GDS Local is set to focus on three core areas, the first of which is working with councils to ensure they can eventually use GOV.UK One Login and the GOV.UK App to access national and local services via a single account.
The team will also work on reforming how councils buy technology, trying to avoid long-term contract lock ins with single suppliers.
GDS Local will also support councils to share anonymised data on issues like homelessness trends or serve demand through the Government Digital and Data Hub, facilitating sector-wide learning and the ability to scale innovations.
“For too long, local councils have been left out of the digital transformation happening across central government, despite delivering the services that matter most to, and are closest to, people’s lives,” minister for digital government, Ian Murray said.
“That changes today. GDS Local will help end the postcode lottery for digital services, giving every community access to modern, joined up and reliable online services. “This is about making government work seamlessly for people wherever they live and delivering the world-class local digital experience they rightly expect.”
Part of the government’s blueprint for modern digital government, it also delivers on the commitments of the state of digital government review to unlock £45 billion in productivity benefits across the public sector every year.
To bolster the work of the GDS Local unit, the UK government is also rolling out the Government Digital and Data Hub. This is a new online platform where public sector digital and data professionals can learn, connect and share expertise.
The Hub brings together staff from central government, local councils, the NHS and other public bodies in one place for the first time. It gives them access to training courses, career guidance, networking events and practical resources to help improve their skills.
The platform will help grow the UK’s public sector digital workforce, ensuring staff have the skills needed to deliver faster, simpler and more secure services for the public.
Upgrading the connected technology we use in the workplace could boost the productivity of Britain’s businesses by nine days per employee, equivalent to the average time lost to sick leave for employers by 2030.
That’s according to a new study by BT Business, which shows how better connectivity can transform UK businesses.
The Future Unlocked report shows tech adoption across key sectors like retail, finance and healthcare can improve the workplace experience and deliver rapid growth over the next five years, effectively offsetting the impact of staff absence due to sickness.
The findings come soon after latest data from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development reveals UK workers took an average of 9.4 sick days last year, almost double pre-pandemic levels. Mental health accounted for 41% of long-term absences and a third of short-term leave, as rising workplace stress holds back UK productivity.
One of the main drivers of economic inactivity, ill health is also the focus of the Keep Britain Working Review published earlier this month. This Government-led initiative, supported by BT, aims to make health at work a shared responsibility between employers, employees and health services.
With 79% of employees reporting moderate-to-high levels of stress at work, one in four employees say they have quit, or at least considered it, due to tech frustrations in the workplace. Future Unlocked suggests technology can help businesses tackle burnout.
The study also finds that almost three-quarters (71%) of UK workers think innovations like AI will drive efficiency in the workplace, while two thirds (66%) believe it will help them improve their work-life balance.
Expectations on progress and the current state of tech adoption vary across sectors.
While 97% of C-Suite leaders in finance believe nearly half of tasks will be automated by 2030, two in five within retail describe their current workplace systems as “basic”.
“Unlocking productivity gains across the business community is one of the biggest challenges we face if we’re to deliver sustained economic growth nationwide,” Chris Sims, chief commercial officer at BT Business said.
“We live in an increasingly digital age; only by embracing modern technologies such as AI & the cloud, and enabling them with fast, secure and reliable connectivity, will we see a healthy productivity boost.
“Innovation and automation can empower teams to deliver their best work efficiently, which boosts retention and job satisfaction. By focusing on improving connectivity over the next five years, companies will not only supercharge productivity but also take practical steps towards improving staff retention and customer experience.”
Currently only 7% of UK employees view their workplace technology as leading edge, while three quarters (77%) believe their employers must radically step up training and upskilling to prepare for the AI revolution.
Finance
While 97% of senior finance leaders report positive experiences with workplace technology, three in five frontline staff (59%) say they have not received enough training to make the most of tools like AI, and 44% of lower management fear it could take their job.
Retail
C-suite retail leaders expect AI and automation to help them claw back an average of 11 hours a week in efficiency savings by 2030. On the shop floor, however, nearly one in five retail workers (19%) have considered quitting due to tech frustrations, such as insufficient training on new systems, outdated devices, and unreliable connectivity.
Health
The shift from analogue to digital is a cornerstone of the NHS 10 Year Plan and three in five healthcare workers (60%) back their organisation to be future-ready by 2030.
However, staff report losing five hours a week on average to disconnected or unreliable tools. A quarter (23%) of worker says they left or are considering leaving their organisation due to IT frustrations, with outdated tech seen as a barrier to career growth.
Ahead of the Autumn Budget to be announced next week, the UK government has issued a new package of reforms and investment into AI as part of its growth plans for ‘national renewal’.
The plans aim to bolster investment into AI infrastructure, providing businesses with the opportunity to scale and compete internationally as part of Labour’s Modern Industrial Strategy.
International companies are also hosting new centres in the UK and British companies are increasing investment – with £24.25 billion in private investment committed in this last month alone.
Companies like Vantage Data Centers and Microsoft are also joining forces with the government to deliver another AI Growth Zone. Set in South Wales, £10 billion of investment will unlock at least 5,000 jobs, including in industrial heartlands like the former Ford Bridgend Engine Plant.
AI Growth Zones will help transform local economies and ensure no community is left behind, with £5 million of government funding for each Growth Zone to boost business adoption and invest in the skills of local workers.
To ensure British businesses and researchers stay at the forefront of AI, new plans will back firms and scientists with the right tools to succeed and to seize the opportunity for British workers and growth.
The government aims to act as a first customer to UK startups which are building high-quality AI hardware products but are struggling to get off the ground without investment through a new “advance market commitment” backed by £100 million.
The goal is to see British chips deployed alongside established vendors, the government says.
Alongside this, venture capitalist James Wise will chair the Sovereign AI Unit, backed by almost £500 million in investment to help build and scale AI capabilities on British shores. The unit will bring together government, industry and investors, to become the go-to fund for high potential start-ups and scale-ups in the UK.
The UK government is also established an array of AI ambassadors to promote AI, and will offer more free compute to British researchers and startups to train new AI models. The process to spend up to £250 million on compute is now being launched.
Further, a new strategy is being unveiled to make sure AI supercharges scientific discovery, backed by up to £137 million in government funding. Its first mission will be focused on harnessing AI to speed up the research of new drugs and treatments – giving patients a new lease of life and fresh hope that their conditions can be better managed.
“We are ambitious for our country and believe Britain’s best days lie ahead. Today we’re announcing a package of measures that ensure we seize the opportunities to get jobs and growth in every part of the country,” secretary of state for science, innovation, and technology Liz Kendall said.
“The backing by international investors today is a vote of confidence in the UK – and we’re determined to do even more to ensure we are backing British businesses, workers and researchers to benefit from the opportunities AI brings. This is about bringing jobs, opportunities and hope to the people and places that need it most, delivering on our promise of change.”
The UK Space Agency is investing £6.9 million in satellite technology aiming to transform connectivity and secure Britain’s place as a European space leader.
The funding will support five groundbreaking projects through the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ARTES (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) programme, part of the Directorate of Connectivity and Secure Communications. These projects showcase British expertise in next-generation satellite technologies and strengthen the UK’s role in advanced communications.
This investment underpins the UK’s Industrial Strategy priority capabilities: Satellite Communications, Position, Navigation and Timing, In-orbit Servicing and Manufacturing, Space Domain Awareness, and Space Data for Earth Applications.
With European demand for satellites up to 2033 forecasted to be worth £40 billion, even 2% of this would bring around £800 million in revenues for the UK economy alone.
“Space technology and especially satellites, are essential to our daily lives. From the sat nav in your car to your mobile phone, from weather forecasts to your online banking – space is where it all happens,” space minister Liz Lloyd said.
“By backing our UK sector, we’re not only cementing our position as a European space leader – we’re creating high-skilled jobs, attracting investment, and ensuring space technologies can connect communities to the space-enabled services they need.”
The five UK-led projects span critical areas of innovation in satellite communications, from refuelling satellites to extend their lifespans, to developing 5G networks and optical links that will improve global connectivity.
Orbit Fab will deliver the Advancing Satcom Technology with Refuelling and Logistics (ASTRAL) project with a total UK funding of up to £2.9 million. The contract for the first stage of the mission, worth £1.3 million, has now been awarded by ESA. This mission will prove the capability to refuel electric propulsion satellites using UK-developed technology, ensuring satellites can remain in orbit for longer or can manoeuvre away from threats.
Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall will lead the AGILE: Antenna Ground Interface and LunaNet Equipment project, supported by £1.6 million in funding. Amidst the growing number of lunar missions, this project will produce an interface unit that can be installed in global antennas to communicate with spacecraft using the internationally recognised LunaNet specification. This will allow missions to seamlessly connect to ground infrastructure, improving mission success rates.
Vicinity Technologies will receive £1.19 million for its 5G NTN-based Satellite Access Networks project. The team will design and develop a versatile 5G Non-Terrestrial Network regenerative payload system and user terminals, including the entire software stack for both space and ground segments. This technology will support uninterrupted and scalable internet services globally, from hard-to-reach areas to smart cities.
Archangel Lightworks, working with the support of Eutelsat will advance optical communications through the Space Optical Link Integration Study (SOLIS) project, funded with £356,000. This study, delivered under ESA’s Sunrise programme, will investigate use cases for deploying Free Space Optical Communications technology within Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO global network.
Finally, Inmarsat Navigation Ventures Ltd (Viasat UK) will receive £881,000 for the International Virtual Satellite Operators Network (Phase 2) project. This initiative will develop a service that enables governments to plan, procure, manage and monitor satellite communications services from Viasat and other providers, ensuring secure and coherent management of critical communications.
“Today’s investment shows how the UK’s space ambitions translate into real-world impact,” Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, said. “By advancing satellite communications technology, we’re not only building a globally competitive sector but also ensuring that communities – even in the most remote corners of the UK – can access the services they need. This is space delivering for people and powering our future economy.”
By helping businesses, universities and research institutions commercialise breakthrough technologies, the government is creating high-skilled jobs in the UK’s £18.9 billion space sector and delivering tangible benefits – from improved weather forecasting to enhanced national security.
IT leaders do not think their organisations are doing enough to reach their sustainability targets, new research from Flexera shows.
While the vast majority (94%) say that sustainability is a growing priority in their companies, eight in ten (87%) say their firms are simply not doing enough to achieve their goals.
A wide range of issues are affecting the ability of sustainability teams to keep up to date with their companies’ progress. Cloud computing costs continue to rise, putting a strain on budgets, a constraint for 69% of respondents to Flexera’s survey. Further, about half of (46%) sustainability leaders say that the sheer mass of data about the usage and cost of cloud is overwhelming.
This data overwhelm means that teams are struggling to identify areas that need improvement, or even get to grips with their organisation’s current impact on carbon emissions and resource usage.
Access to sustainability data appears to be improving, with nearly four in five IT decision makers (79%) saying it is easy to access this data within their organisations. However, the research also found that sustainability is often grouped with regulatory compliance, dragging it down in the list of organisation’s priorities.
“Without full visibility of what their technology estate is costing, consuming and emitting, businesses cannot evidence clearly whether cloud and AI investments are advancing or undermining their climate goals,” said Marlon Oliver, senior vice president EMEA at Flexera.
The research found that while sustainability is increasingly integrated with other priority areas, it still ranks below these priorities, such as AI, cost reduction, and risk mitigation.
Flexera recommends that sustainability continues to be integrated into different technology silos and choices, whether it comes to vendor selection or security measures.
Leveraging data for informed decision making is also integral, but this requires proper data management and governance as an underlying company resolve.
Overall, fostering a culture of accountability across all company departments, with clear ownership of activities and incentives for sustainable targets made clear.
Don’t Miss Scotland’s Largest Tech Event of the Year – DIGIT Expo: 27th November
50 Speakers – 40 Exhibitors – 2000 Delegates
Don’t miss DIGIT Expo, Scotland’s largest annual tech gathering, taking place at the EICC in Edinburgh on 27th November. We have a stacked conference agenda with 5 Stages of leading edge content, including presenters from Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify, Morgan Stanley, Alibaba, and NVIDIA…
By 2027, 50% of enterprises will be investing in disinformation security products or services and TrustOps strategies, up from less than 5% today, according to Gartner, Inc.
The proliferation of AI-driven misinformation and synthetic media is reshaping the competitive landscape for brands. This is explored in a new book by current and former Gartner analysts Andrew Frank, Dave Aron, and Richard Hunter, who highlight the urgent need for marketing leaders to anticipate emerging threats and adapt their strategies to safeguard organisational reputation and customer relationships.
“Marketers can no longer afford to treat disinformation as someone else’s problem,” said Frank.
“The proliferation of automated bot networks means that even well-established brands can find themselves at the centre of a synthetic outrage storm overnight. Building resilience against these attacks is now essential to protecting both reputation and customer loyalty.”
The book explores the marketing consequences of a world where digital deception is rampant and offers actionable strategies for marketers to protect brand integrity and foster trust in an era of uncertainty.
Content Verification & Certification: With deepfakes and synthetic media on the rise, marketers must implement verification standards such as Content Credentials to ensure authenticity across all brand touchpoints.
TrustOps & Cross-Functional Collaboration: CMOs should leverage TrustOps—a holistic, enterprise-wide approach to managing trust through operational policies, technology, and cross-functional teams. Marketing leaders are called to establish Trust Councils and drive transparency as truth becomes increasingly elusive.
Narrative Intelligence & Media Listening: Marketers need advanced narrative intelligence and proactive media listening to detect, debunk, and counter influence operations before they can erode brand equity.
Behavioral Science & Nudges: By applying behavioral science, marketers can cultivate skepticism and critical thinking among consumers and employees, reducing susceptibility to false narratives
“Disinformation is not just a technology or security issue—it is a marketing imperative,” Frank said.
“As public trust in institutions and media declines, brands are increasingly vulnerable to targeted disinformation campaigns—including the rapid rise of bot-generated fake brand outrage, which can manufacture viral crises and erode consumer trust in a matter of hours.
“Gartner’s research shows that while most executives acknowledge the threat, few have made it a strategic priority.”
The European Commission has issued proposals to ease some of its tech regulations, including some of its more contested points of the AI Act, following push back from big tech.
Since the issuing of the AI Act, which is the world’s first attempt at formally regulating AI, large tech companies have targeted Europe’s tech regulations, claiming that it would hurt Europe’s ability to stay competitive in the AI and wider tech market.
The EU seems to be curtailing a number of laws – it recently diluted some of its environmental regulations following criticisms from businesses and the US government.
Despite pressure from these sources, the EU assures that it is not lessening any of its laws, but rather simplifying its regulatory stance.
“Simplification is not deregulation. Simplification is not deregulation. Simplification means that we are taking a critical look at our regulatory landscape,” a Commission official said in a briefing.
However, the changes mean that the EU has delayed some major decisions concerning the regulation of AI in what it deems as more ‘high risk’ applications, from August 2026 to December 2027.
These decisions are encompassed in a ‘Digital Omnibus’, which is yet to be debated and voted on by member countries, and which aims to simplify some of the tenants of the AI Act.
The package will focus on more controversial applications of AI, such as in biometrics identification, utilities, job applications, health services, law enforcement, and credit checks.
It will also touch on Cookie policy and GDPR, a longstanding pain point for many large tech companies looking to train their AI models on EU personal data.
The Digital Omnibus will also affect legislation such as the e-Privacy Directive and the Data Act, as well as other EU digital regulations.
Brits used nearly a fifth (18%) more mobile data in 2025 than the previous year, totalling over 1.2 billion GB each month, according to Ofcom’s annual report.
That’s the equivalent of streaming 400 million football matches (congrats, lads!) in HD, watching 315 billion TikToks, or sending 1.3 quadrillion text-only WhatsApp messages.
While 4G still accounts for the majority of mobile data traffic, 5G data use grew by than half (53%) this year.
To keep up, mobile networks are deploying full 5G, also known as 5G standalone, providing users with what they describe as a faster, better, and more powerful experience. Unlike ordinary 5G, which still depends on parts of the 4G network, full 5G runs on a separate, dedicated network, providing 5G end-to-end.
Ofcom’s report, which includes data on full 5G coverage for the first time, reveals that 83% of UK has access to full 5G from at least one mobile network.
“The UK’s demand for data continues to grow as we live increasingly connected lives,” Natalie Black, Ofcom’s Group Director for Infrastructure and Connectivity, said.
“For years, operators have been delivering 5G services while using old 4G networks to do most of the legwork. But now, the race to deliver the UK’s full 5G future is on.”
Mobile Coverage Expansion
Overall 5G coverage outdoors is now available from at least one operator in 97% of the UK – up from 95% last year. It ranges from 64% to 89% between the mobile networks nationally.
This year, Ofcom launched Map Your Mobile to help users compare coverage for their home areas, to help consumers ensure they are maximising their mobile coverage where it matters most.
Landlines
More than a million households pulled the plug on their landline over the past year, in a trend that could see the traditional home phone become a thing of the past.
Although over 17 million landlines remain, people may increasingly be using services like WhatsApp, or their mobile network, to make calls.
Satellite Broadband
2025 saw a surge in satellite broadband, with Starlink increasing their UK customers to over 100,000 for the first time.
Starlink connections rose by over a quarter, from around 87,000 to over 110,000. A majority of these were in rural areas and more than 12,000 were in places that can’t get decent fixed lines or wireless broadband.
The rapid rollout of full fibre broadband in the UK continues, with 78% of homes (23.7 million) now having access, up from 20.7 million (69%) last year.
But while using fibre optic cables all the way to the home instead of copper lines means much faster, more reliable broadband, less than half of those with access sign up.
Despite fibre take up increasing from 35% to 42% this year, millions are still missing out on a broadband upgrade that could mean buffer-free streaming, seamless gaming, and saying goodbye to awkward freezes during video calls.
Taking full-fibre and cable networks together, 26.4 million homes (87%) now have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection, over half (56%) of which actually take it up.
Though AI is seemingly everywhere, Gartner has identified critical blind spot stemming from overlooked risks and unintended consequences of generative AI (GenAI) adoption.
Chief information officers (CIOs) must proactively address these hidden challenges to ensure GenAI values realisation and avoid AI project failures.
“GenAI technologies and techniques are evolving at an unprecedented pace, matched only by the surrounding hype, which makes it challenging for CIOs to navigate this dynamic landscape,” said Arun Chandrasekaran, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, said.
While organisations often focus on immediate GenAI challenges such as business value, security and data readiness, they may overlook critical blind spots because these are second- or third-order effects that are not often visible upfront.
Risks like shadow AI, technical debt, skills erosion, data sovereignty demands, interoperability issues and vendor lock-in represent hidden undercurrents that can undermine long-term success.
Gartner predicts that by 2030 these blind spots will create the dividing line between enterprises that scale AI safely and strategically and those that become locked in, outpaced or disrupted from within.
To stay competitive and resilient, CIOs must tackle both visible challenges and hidden risks tied to GenAI adoption and prioritise addressing these blind spots.
Shadow AI
A Gartner survey of 302 cybersecurity leaders in March – May 2025 revealed that 69% of organisations suspect or have evidence that employees are using prohibited public GenAI.
The rapid adoption of unsanctioned AI tools can lead to both visible and invisible impacts such as IP loss, data exposure and increased security risks.
Gartner predicts that by 2030 more than 40% of enterprises will experience security or compliance incidents linked to unauthorised shadow AI.
“To address these risks, CIOs should define clear enterprise-wide policies for AI tool usage, conduct regular audits for shadow AI activity and incorporate GenAI risk evaluation into their SaaS assessment processes,” said Chandrasekaran.
Tech Debt
Gartner predicts that by 2030, 50% of enterprises will face delayed AI upgrades and/or rising maintenance costs due to unmanaged GenAI technical debt.
“Enterprises are excited about GenAI’s speed of delivery. However, the punitively high cost of maintaining, fixing or replacing AI-generated artifacts such as code, content and design, can erode GenAI’s promised return on investments,” said Chandrasekaran.
“By establishing clear standards for reviewing and documenting AI-generated assets and tracking technical debt metrics in IT dashboards, enterprises can take proactive steps to prevent costly disruptions.”
Gartner predicts that by 2028, 65% of governments worldwide will introduce some technological sovereignty requirements to improve independence and protect from extraterritorial regulatory interference.
Regulatory constraints on cross-border data or model sharing can slow down enterprise-wide AI deployments, increase total cost of ownership (TCO) and result in suboptimal outcomes.
To address these challenges, CIOs must build data sovereignty into their AI strategies from the start by engaging legal and compliance teams early on and prioritise vendors who meet their data and AI sovereignty requirements.
Skills
Over-reliance on AI can erode critical human expertise, judgment and tacit knowledge that are not easily codified or replaceable.
This erosion occurs gradually and often goes unnoticed, so CIOs may not recognise the risk until the enterprise struggles to function without AI or when AI fails in edge cases that require human intuition.
“To prevent the gradual loss of enterprise memory and capability, organisations should identify where human judgment and craftsmanship are essential, designing AI solutions to complement, not replace, these skills,” Chandrasekaran said.
Lock-ins and Interoperability
Enterprises eager to harness GenAI’s potential at scale often choose a single vendor for speed and simplicity.
This deep dependency can impact an enterprise’s technical agility and future negotiation power on pricing, terms or service levels.
Many CIOs underestimate how closely their data, models or workflows become tied to vendor-specific APIs, data lakes and platform tools.
“Prioritising open standards, open APIs and modular architectures in AI stack design, help enterprises avoid vendor lock-ins,” said Chandrasekaran.
“In addition, CIOs must make interoperability a standard in GenAI pilots and assessments.”
Cloudflare, the network-and-security services firm underpinning a vast swath of global websites (in fact, they handle a third of global traffic), experienced a significant outage on 18 November that disrupted access for numerous major platforms.
According to reports, the issue began in the early hours of the US morning and continued into UK business hours before being declared resolved.
The company said that a fix had been implemented and that service was stabilising, although monitoring continued for residual errors.
Users of platforms including X, ChatGPT, Spotify, Zoom and the dashboard of DownDetector were among those impacted.
According to the Financial Times the root cause was not a cyber-attack but rather “an overly large configuration file used to manage threat traffic, which triggered a crash in Cloudflare’s software systems”
Cloudflare said that the disruption began when it observed a “spike in unusual traffic to one of Cloudflare’s services” starting at around 11.20am.
By around 3pm, Cloudflare declared the incident resolved, though it noted some could still experience dashboard login issues or larger-than-normal error rates.
New data reveals deepfakes account for one in five biometric fraud attempts, with the rise of biometrics leading to a new cybersecurity crisis, according to research from Entrust.
Instances of deepfaked selfies increased by 58% in 2025, while other fraud tactics across biometric systems include photo of a screen, photo of a printout, 2D and 3D masks, video of a video on screen, and video of photo on screen.
This rise in deepfakes is part of a broader trend of increasingly sophisticated attacks driven by injection attacks, which surged 40% year-over-year. Injection attacks enable fraudsters to bypass live capture processes by feeding manipulated images or videos directly into verification systems.
When combined with deepfakes, these sophisticated techniques can convincingly mimic users and live capture experiences, making detection difficult without robust, multi-layered fraud prevention.
Entrust’s report also highlights trends in when fraud happens during the customer lifecycle and how it varies by industry and business models.
Sectors offering sign-up bonuses, such as cryptocurrency, face the highest rates of onboarding fraud, accounting for 67% of fraud attempts.
Meanwhile, industries with valuable, long-standing accounts, such as payments and digital-first banks, experience higher rates of account takeover (ATO) fraud, accounting for 82% and 55% of fraud attempts targeting the authentication process, respectively.
ATO fraud involves hijacking existing user accounts, typically through stolen credentials, phishing, malware, or social engineering, to steal funds or harvest sensitive data.
Building on the technical threats, the report also reveals how fraudsters are increasingly targeting individuals through psychological manipulation.
By using tactics such as phishing, impersonation, and coercion, fraudsters are convincing victims to use their genuine identity, hand over sensitive data, or transfer funds.
The report also found that digital forgeries made up 35% of document fraud – up from a 29% average between 2022 and 2024. Overall, there’s a higher volume of physical counterfeits (47%), but typically the sophistication of digital forgeries is higher, driven by the online availability of AI tools.
“As detection improves, fraud rings evolve, becoming faster, more organised, and commercially driven,” said Simon Horswell, Senior Fraud Specialist Manager at Entrust.
“Generative AI and shared tactics fuel volumes and sophistication, targeting people, credentials, and systems.
“Identity is now the front line, and protecting it with trusted, verified identity across the customer lifecycle is essential to staying ahead of adaptive threats.”
As more and more UK consumers turn to AI chatbots for help with product purchases, financial quandaries, medical tips, and general information, consumer researcher Which? investigated the accuracy of these AI tools.
Which?’s research found that more than half of UK consumers use AI to search for information across the internet, with around a third thinking that AI search is already more important than traditional web searches.
Around half of those using AI told Which? that they trust the information AI provides them to a ‘great’ or reasonable’ extent, but just how ‘reasonable’ is this level of trust?
Which? tested six of the most popular AI tools on the market: ChatGPT, Google Gemini on its own and as it appears in Google searchers, Microsoft Copilot, Meta AI, and Perplexity.
The consumer research advocacy asked the chatbots a series of questions ranging from medical queries to financial advice, product reviews, legal advice, and travel issues.
Which? found that while AI tools can be useful for general research, they often provide factual inaccuracies or incomplete advice.
All the AI chatbots made continual factual errors – Which? gave the example of getting broadband compensation prices wrong, as well as the ISA allowance figure.
The chatbots were found to often give incomplete advice which could be misleading, such as not considering different legal rules for different UK regions.
However, Which? also found that chatbots to often be overconfident in their presentation of advice without proper ethical considerations, often neglecting to recommend users turn to professionals when discussing legal and financial matters.
Further, Which? found that AI chatbots often relied on weak sources, which could even include online forum threads. They often had sources that were vague or even non-existent, making it difficult for consumers to track the AI’s source of information.
Finally, some of the tools also suggested dodgy services with high costs over free and safe tools, meaning that users could be duped into overpaying for services or employing a less reliable tool.
Overall, Which? found that Perplexity scored the highest overall across these different metrics, with a total score of 71%. It had the highest score for accuracy (72%), relevance (73%), clarity (73%) and usefulness (70%), but was surpassed by Google’s Gemini models for ethical responsibility.
Meta’s AI came in last place, with a 55% overall score, coming in last across the board.
Interestingly, ChatGPT, the most popularly used model, came in second to last, with a 64% overall score, trailing behind Microsoft Copilot (68%), Gemini (69%), and Google AI Overview (70%).
Interesting, when comparing Google AI Overview with Gemini, Which? also found discrepancies in accuracy across different questions.
Google AI Overview handled questions on legal and health better than Gemini, which scored higher on financial and consumer rights queries.
As AI tools become an increasingly popular choice for people’s first and last stop to find information, understanding their faults in accuracy and ethics is evermore vital.
About two thirds (65%) of senior developers across the globe believe their role will be redefined by AI in 2026, according to research from BairesDev.
The firm’s Dev Barometer gathered insights from 501 developers, most with over eight years of experience, and project managers working across 92 software development initiatives at Fortune 500 and small and medium enterprises.
Of the two thirds that think AI will redefine their role, about three in four (74%) expect to shift from coding to designing technical solutions, with 61% expecting to integrate AI-generated code into their workflows.
Half (50%) anticipate a greater focus on strategy and architecture.
Overall, 58% believe automation will reduce entry-level tasks, leading to smaller, leaner teams in 2026.
Three quarters (74%) say AI has strengthened their technical skills, 50% say it has improved their work-life balance in 2025, and 37% say it has expanded their career opportunities.
“At the start of the year, many asked how AI would change developers’ roles. It’s clear now: developers are the first professionals to reinvent their jobs in real time,” said Nacho De Marco, CEO and Co-Founder of BairesDev.
“They’re using AI to boost productivity, learn faster, and drive innovation. What’s happening in software today will soon happen across every knowledge industry: people will think bigger, break old limits, and redefine what productivity means.”
Senior developers are increasingly operating in AI-integrated environments: six in ten say AI accelerated project delivery, shortening time-to-market, and saving almost one working day per week.
While enthusiasm is high, developers are also realistic about its current capabilities.
Over half (56%) said AI-generated code is currently “somewhat reliable,” requiring continued validating to ensure quality, accuracy, and security. Only 9% trust it enough to implement as is.
Overall, developers still spend most of their time on writing code and building features (48%), debugging and fixing bugs (42%), and planning and documentation (35%). Just under one-fifth (19%) said they focus primarily on creative problem-solving and innovation, a figure expected to grow as AI continues to automate routine coding tasks.
As software teams become smaller and leaner in 2026, there is a shift toward more specialised structures, AI-integrated workflows, and human oversight in design and delivery.
Over half (51%) of developers warn that those without AI skills risk falling behind. Project managers identified AI/ML specialists (42%) as the biggest upcoming talent gap, followed by prompt engineers and data engineers.
Developers expect AI/ML (67%), data analytics (46%), and cybersecurity (45%) to be the fastest-growing areas in 2026.
About three in five (63%) project managers said developers will require more training in AI, cloud, and cybersecurity.
BairesDev’s Q3 2025 research showed that AI had already become standard practice: 92% of developers were using AI-assisted coding, saving an average of 7.3 hours per week.
The newest research from the final quarter of 2025 points to an industry defined by AI integration: senior developers foresee their core work evolving into a strategic role.
Teams get leaner and more specialised, and upskilling in AI, data, and security becomes mandatory. In short, the role changes, the team structure follows, and human oversight remains central, turning individual AI gains into a repeatable way to build software in 2026.
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The Scottish Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry into broadband and mobile connectivity across Scotland’s rural and island communities, seeking ways in which this could be improved.
While broadband connectivity has improved in Scotland, it continues to lag behind England and Wales, with Scotland falling behind the UK average for gigabit and full-fibre connectivity.
This is particularly pronounced in rural areas, the Committee finds, where only 42% of Scotland’s residential properties have access to full-fibre broadband, compared to the UK rural average of 52%.
Mobile connectivity presents similar challenges, with 11% of Scotland experiencing total 4G not-spots, more than double the UK average of 5%.
The Scottish Affairs Committee inquiry will explore the rollout of broadband and mobile connectivity in Scotland, as well as the coordination between UK and Scottish government connectivity programmes.
MPs could investigate the knock-on effects for communities that come from technology transition, such as the phase-out of the Radio Teleswitch Services (RTS), the barriers to infrastructure deployment, and alternative connectivity solutions like satellite-based services.
The inquiry may also consider what steps are needed to ensure that communities vulnerable to storm and bad weather damage are not left without vital mobile and internet services when infrastructure is damaged by force majeure events.
The Committee is also launching a public survey to ensure it hears views from people across Scotland on the topic, with a particular interest in hearing from rural and remote areas on their issues with internet and mobile connectivity.
“In today’s world, most aspects of life rely on fast and reliable broadband and mobile connection, with key services increasingly being offered online. A good internet connection is vital, but Scotland’s digital connectivity continues to lag behind other countries in Britain,” Patricia Ferguson, MP, chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee, said.
“Scots in rural and island areas are particularly affected by this, as infrastructure delivery is complex and costly.
“It’s crucial that broadband in Scotland can improve to reach further into remote areas of the country, to help local communities access the vital services and help drive their local economies forward.
“As part of this inquiry, we’ve launched a survey to hear directly from people living with connectivity issues across Scotland.
“We want to learn how connectivity issues might be impacting their everyday life, and what they think needs to be changed, to ensure that the Scottish people can have their voices heard.”
A third (32%) of UK firms say they completely trust AI, yet aren’t backing that trust with the governance, data controls, or ethical safeguards needed to justify it, new research from IDC shows.
This has revealed an AI data zone, making clear that responsible use of AI is fundamental to delivering business value, rather than a ‘nice to have’.
While nearly a third of UK firms place complete trust in AI, only 8% back their confidence with the data governance, safeguards and ethical controls needed to make AI reliable and safe.
In short, the UK’s confidence in AI is uneven, and where it is high, it’s often not backed by a corresponding investment in ensuring AI is trustworthy.
That mismatch affects a total of 44% of UK firms, which is defined in the report as the ‘AI trust dilemma’ (12% of firms have low trust, but high implementation of trustworthy AI – the opposite to the 32%).
When AI systems aren’t designed transparently or governed properly, organisations risk flawed outputs, regulatory breaches and erosion of customer trust.
Conversely, firms that invest in responsible AI, from explainability and data privacy to bias prevention, are seeing higher productivity, better customer outcomes and stronger ROI according to the findings.
“Overconfidence in AI is Britain’s blindspot,” Dr Iain Brown, head of AI and data science at SAS Northern Europe said.
“A third of firms are in a danger zone without realising it, blocking their ability to turn AI enthusiasm into competitive advantage and exposing them to risk.
“So, the message is clear, trust without governance isn’t a workable AI strategy. To move from confidence to business value UK firms need to invest in robust data foundation, implement clear governance frameworks, build explainability and risk mitigation into model performance and underpin all of this with responsible AI policies.
“Only then will more UK firms progress their use of AI into the transformative stage and begin realising true business value.”
According to the report the UK scores 2.93 out of 5 on the AI Impact Index (a quantitative measure that captures the realised business value and outcomes from AI investments), lagging behind the US (3.1), Spain (3.44), and Ireland’s impressive 4.06 rating.
The report highlights several reasons behind this performance gap, beyond the trust dilemma.
This includes foundational data issues – UK organisations are more likely than global peers to cite data challenges such as poor data governance and data foundations not being centralised/optimised as limiting AI outcomes. The data also suggests hype-led adoption.
Generative AI adoption is high at 78% but usage of more proven AI types lags behind at 58% – indicating a reliance on emerging technologies over more mature (and usually more reliable) solutions.
Also compared with Ireland, where 28% of firms report being in the ‘transformative’ stage of AI adoption, no counterparts in the UK believe they have reached this most advanced stage of AI adoption.
“The absence of any UK firms at the ‘transformative’ stage of AI maturity is a warning sign that, while adoption is high, the UK is not yet realising meaningful, enterprise-wide value from AI,” Dr Brown continues.
“This stage represents the point where AI is fully embedded across the business, driving automation at scale, innovation and strategic growth.
“Without strong data foundations, governance and accountable deployment, UK organisations risk being outpaced by overseas rivals, where advanced AI maturity is already translating into higher productivity and ROI.”
The NHS has partnered with Multiverse, an edtech firm, and tech giant Palantir to upskill its staff in AI and data.
The two tech firms will help health staff in their adoption and use of the NHS Federated Data Platform, which is supplied by Palantir.
The data platform connects data is a centralised platform that takes information from different separate systems allowing staff faster access to patient data. Palantir claims that the platform can optimise patient care across the 77 NHS Trusts that are using the service.
Multiverse has signed onto the partnership to support the digital skills training of NHS staff. Founded and run by Euan Blair, the son of former prime minister Tony Blair, Mutliverse achieved ‘unicorn’ status in 2022, but has faced continuous yearly losses since being founded in 2016.
The apprenticeship company will work with Palantir to outfit a range of apprenticeship programmes centred on the NHS data platform, with the earliest cohorts set for this coming February.
Within the NHS, roles targeted for skills training will include clinical staff, analysts, administrators and managers.
“The NHS FDP is already improving care for patients while cutting paperwork for doctors and nurses,” executive vice president for UK and Europe at Palantir, Louis Mosley, said.
“Now we need to double down on training to keep driving up the number of NHS staff who are trained on the technology – and this partnership will be central to that.”
Peter Theil, who was a PayPal cofounder as well as of Palantir, has been an early supporter of US President Donald Trump, and has since won many US government contracts since his election.
The number of women studying computing degrees in higher education is growing, but still not close to full gender parity, new data has found.
About a quarter (25.3%) of students studying computing degrees in the UK during the 2023/2024 school year are now women, an over 5% rise since the 2019/2020 year.
Data from Higher Education Students Statistics shows a year-on-year consistent increase in the amount of women studying computing degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
For undergraduates, the balance between males and females studying computing degrees has seen a slight improvement.
In the academic year 2019/20, 18.2% of those studying engineering and technology were female. Fast forward to 2023/24, this number climbed to 19.8%.
Computing studies have shown more of an improvement, with women making up 21% of undergraduates, a 4% improvement from 17.1% in 2019.
Over the past five years, there has also been an increase in parity between women and men postgraduate students studying computing and other STEM degrees.
Engineering and technology degrees have seen just a 2% increase in female postgraduates – from 25.4% to 27.3% – equating to just over 3,000 more female students.
Postgraduate students with computing degrees have also risen more than 5% over the past five years – from 29.3% to 34.4% – a growth of 12,000 women.
GoDeploy, which conducted the study, also looked at ONS data to determine if the changes in computing degree gender equality has trickled into the tech workforce.
In the UK, they found that over 70% of the IT workforce is made up of men. Over the past five years, the stats show that the industry has gained about 1.7 million more male workers, compared to just 300,000 more women over the same period.
Since 2019, the IT industry has seen only marginal – less than a full percentage point – changes in the amount of men versus women in the industry.
While more women are electing to study engineering and computing degrees, this has yet to translate into workplace parity.
Still, as women only make up a quarter of those studying computing, an equal gender split in the industry still seems far off.
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Anthropic, the creators of AI chatbot Claude, claim they have discovered the use of AI in a sophisticated espionage cyber campaign by a Chinese state-sponsored group.
The AI firm said that in September 2025, they detected suspicious activity which they later determined to be a highly sophisticated espionage campaign utilising AI’s agentic capabilities “to an unprecedented degree – using AI not just as an advisor, but to execute the cyber-attacks themselves.”
Anthropic said that the threat actor manipulated their Claud Code tool, using it to attempt to break into around 30 global targets, with a small amount of success.
Th campaign targeted government agencies, chemical manufacturing firms, financial institutions, and large tech companies.
“We believe this is the first documented case of a large-scale cyber-attack executed without substantial human intervention,” Anthropic said in a blog post announcing their finding.
While Anthropic went through the usual motions upon discovering the operation – notifying relevant authorities, blocking accounts – the revelation has major implications for the future of AI agents in cybersecurity.
Anthropic said that the operation relied on three main AI innovations – intelligence, agency, and tools – to operate at such a level.
The combination of AI’s increased intelligence for complex instructions and tasks, its ability to autonomiously operate, and its access to software tools, make it an increasingly volatile threat when used by threat actors.
In this case, threat actors were able to jailbreak Claud Code’s training which prohibits it from engaging in illegal or harmful behaviour. They accomplished this by breaking down illegal tasks into harmless, smaller tasks, while also ensuring the AI LLM that it was an employee of a real cybersecurity firm being used to test defences.
Attackers then used Claude to inspect the target organisation’s security systems, then using the LLM to test security vulnerabilities and eventually, steal credentials for further access to targeted systems.
Claude would also be used to document the attack, creating systemised files of the stolen credentials and the systems to help plan for future effective attacks.
Anthropic said that Claude was used for 80-90% of the entire cyber campaign, with only sporadic human intervention. While the chatbot did hallucinate on occasion, the effectiveness of its real-life application in cyber-crime is alarming.
Cyber leaders have warned that AI is dropping the barriers to sophisticated cyber-attacks since large language models hit the mainstream, but AI-driven cyber-attacks had long-been relegated to improving the effectiveness of social engineering tactics like phishing and pig butchering.
The prospect of an autonomously-run cyber espionage campaign that can target critical national infrastructure, large conglomerates, and nation-states alike is chilling.
Anthropic says that this attack is an escalation on other advances in AI cyber-attacks it saw in the summer. For instance, vibe hacking still required a human in the loop – this new campaign required very little human intervention or leadership.
“This raises an important question: if AI models can be misused for cyberattacks at this scale, why continue to develop and release them?” Anthropic asked.
It answered its own question, claiming that Claude can be used in cyber defences, and saying that Claude was used by its own threat intelligence team in analysing this attack.
However, seeing that foundational models can face jailbreaking that allows them to create illegal and harmful content, it also raises the question on how AI is being regulated, and if AI developers will be held to account for the harmful material their machines produce.
Advanced cyber protections will be embedded into digital systems across critical infrastructure and devices backed by £21 million in funding.
Innovative technology that can be integrated into existing computer hardware and blocks up to 70% of the most common cyber-attacks will soon be in devices across the UK, backed by funding from Innovate UK and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
A large share of cyber-attacks exploit common software bugs.
CHERI adds security at the hardware level, which means many common cyber-attacks, like hijacking software or stealing data, can be stopped, ensuring devices are better protected than ever.
The funding will strengthen the services people and businesses rely on, from energy and transport to healthcare and advanced manufacturing.
As part of the package, Innovate UK is announcing the winners of two major competitions.
Almost £15 million from the Advancing CHERI RISC-V Devices competition will help three companies – EnSilica, SCI Semiconductor, and LowRISC – to get CHERI-enabled hardware into real products.
A further £6.1 million has been awarded to five projects to make supporting tools and software so developers can bring products to market faster. The projects are from: SCI Semiconductor, The University of Manchester, Capabilities Limited, University of Birmingham, and Sensor IT.
This coordinated investment aims to help move CHERI from world-class UK research into the devices UK consumers use every day.
It aims to ensure that both the physical technology and supporting software ecosystem are ready for widespread adoption.
This will enable CHERI’s advanced cyber protections to be embedded into the systems that power everything from critical infrastructure to consumer electronics.
“CHERI changes the game for cybersecurity, enabling us to build defences directly into device hardware,” cybersecurity minister Liz Lloyd said.
“It can shut down up to 70% of the most common cyber-attacks at source, helping protect everything from the smart devices in our homes to the systems that keep hospitals running and transport moving.
“This is how we are making systems stronger from the ground up, and these investments will help us build a safer digital future as we drive new growth across our tech sector.”
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As the UK government’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology announce a new AI Growth Zone, the UK’s leading tech trade body has slammed the government for failing to address prohibitive energy costs.
DSIT announced this week that North Wales would be the location of its newest AI Growth Zone which will see the region receive targeted funding and support to fuel the infrastructure needed to grow its AI sector.
Zones have continued to pop up across the UK, with previous locations including in Scotland, the North East, and Oxfordshire.
However, UK tech trade body TechUK has criticised the government’s most recent zone appointment over failures to address the energy costs associated with AI infrastructure.
“techUK is fully supportive of the government’s AI ambitions but today’s announcement doesn’t go far enough to address the industry’s concerns,” Julian David OBE, CEO of techUK said.
“The UK has the highest industrial energy prices in Europe, a lengthy wait for access to the UK power grid, and planning system delays. These issues are major blockers to significant digital infrastructure investment and risk holding the UK back.
“We must find solutions to these systemic issues that balance attracting investment for our AI infrastructure and lowering costs for the sector at large.”
The UK government is also turning to AI to try and improve energy costs across the UK. Ushering in an era of sovereign renewable power is appealing politically and economically, but takes time and infrastructure to create and sustain.
While the government appointed the AI growth zone in North Wales, it also said the region would host the UK’s first small modular reactors, representing another instance of the UK turning to nuclear as a ‘clean’ power option.
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Nearly half (48%) of UK technology professionals are actively looking for new opportunities, data from Michael Page’s 2026 Salary Guide shows.
However, nearly the same proportion (30%) of UK hiring managers report difficulty finding the talent they need.
This mismatch is driven by candidates holding out for the perfect opportunity, while businesses, faced with tighter budgets and the risk of costly mis-hires, are also waiting for the ideal candidate – creating a ‘wait-and-see workforce’.
AI and Data Roles in High Demand
AI and data roles lead demand in the technology sector, driven by the continued growth of AI in recent years. In addition to traditional technical roles like AI Data Architect and Machine Learning Engineer, there’s growing demand for Change Managers and Cyber Security Consultants, reflecting businesses’ recognition that successful AI and technology projects need secure, scalable solutions and smooth organisational change.
Although AI and data roles are in the highest demand, businesses are also increasingly seeking hybrid technology talent. Skills in communication and creativity are at the top of the list, as companies look for individuals who can blend technical expertise with the ability to adapt and collaborate effectively across teams.
The hotspots for technology talent are London, the Southern Home Counties*, and the Midlands, with demand for specialised AI and data expertise continuing to rise across these regions.
Given the high demand for this talent, Michael Page highlights the importance of strong salary benchmarking and holistic benefits packages to successfully attract and retain top candidates.
The most in-demand technology roles according to the study are:
AI / Data Architect
AI / ML Engineer
Change Manager
Cyber Security Consultant
DevOps Engineer
The most in-demand technology skills are:
Communication
Analytical thinking
Commercial acumen
Adaptability
Creativity
“We’re seeing strong demand for specialists in AI, cybersecurity, and technology-led transformation – however, while AI roles are in demand, it’s the skills behind them that really count,” James Barret, managing director of technology and transformation at Michael Page, said.
“The strongest interest isn’t for ‘AI gurus’, but for hybrid talent that blends technical expertise with creative problem-solving. Experience with regulation, complex data, and stakeholder engagement often outweighs pure technical depth.
“This talent is highly sought after, making strong salary benchmarking and competitive packages essential to attracting the right experts for your team.”
Despite 48% of UK technology professionals actively looking for a new role, recruitment challenges today are not just about supply and demand – they also reflect evolving candidate expectations.
Across the technology industry, 88% of UK technology professionals say work-life balance is their top priority. In fact, 60% would turn down a promotion if it compromised their wellbeing. However, over a third (35%) of UK technology professionals have little trust in their leadership to prioritise employee wellbeing alongside business goals.
“The best technology talent won’t be captured by salary alone. Their priorities have shifted – now driven by purpose, wellbeing, and flexibility,” Barrett said.
“Companies that look beyond salary and offer holistic packages will be the ones to secure the talent they need and break the ‘wait-and-see workforce’, where technology professionals are holding out for the best possible options.”
As UK organisations strive to boost productivity in a challenging economy, new research from TeamViewer, a remote connectivity and workplace digitalisation firm, highlights concern about dysfunctional technology. Digital friction, the study reveals, is quietly eroding business performance and limiting productivity gains across industries.
According to The Impact of Digital Friction report, nearly half (46%) of UK businesses say that “digital friction” – everyday technology frustrations that slow down work – has directly led to lost revenue. An even greater number (55%) have experienced delays in critical projects due to IT issues.
The study surveyed more than 4,200 professionals worldwide, including 400 in the UK. Troublingly, it also found that UK employees fear their technological challenges will worsen rather than improve – a third (30%) expect the amount of time they lose to digital friction to increase in the next year.
How the UK compares globally
When compared with other major markets, the UK sits slightly above the global average for digital friction, but well behind leaders like the US and India.
While 46% of UK businesses report revenue loss due to IT inefficiencies, that figure rises to 50% in the US and 65% in India, compared with a global average of 42%.
In contrast, only a third (33%) of German businesses report the same impact, highlighting a notable gap in how organisations across regions manage their digital infrastructure.
The human cost of digital friction
Beyond its financial impact, digital friction is taking a toll on the UK workforce. Nearly half (47%) of UK respondents believe tech frustration contributes to employee turnover, while almost a third (31%) have seen colleagues leave due to persistent IT issues.
This frustration is changing how people think about work: 45% say they would ask about a company’s digital employee experience before accepting a job, and 27% admit they’ve considered leaving because of ongoing IT challenges.
Such findings reveal that digital friction is not only a technical issue, but a cultural and people challenge that affects motivation, satisfaction, and talent retention.
Encouragingly, the research highlights a clear path forward. Nearly half of UK respondents (48%) believe AI can help reduce digital friction in their organisation. Meanwhile half (52%) are open to AI taking over routine IT tasks such as troubleshooting and password resets.
These insights suggest a growing readiness among UK businesses to embrace AI as a force multiplier for productivity and efficiency, helping teams work smarter and faster while reducing everyday hurdles.
“Technology should empower people, not hold them back” said Andrew Hewitt, VP of Strategic Technology at TeamViewer.
“With productivity such a huge focus for UK businesses right now, there’s a real opportunity to turn everyday tech frustrations into progress. Our findings show that reducing digital friction can have an enormous impact on both performance and morale.
“When organisations embrace AI-powered connectivity and smarter IT systems, they can remove barriers, give people back valuable time, and create a smoother, more rewarding work experience.”
IT spending in Europe is projected to total $1.4 trillion in 2026, an increase of 11.1% from 2025, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.
IT spending in Europe is on pace to reach $1.3 trillion by the end of 2025.
“AI, cloud and cybersecurity are driving the rise in IT spending for European organisations in 2026,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner.
“Despite IT budget constraints and minimal headcount growth, CIOs in Europe will be spending heavily on software to access new AI features from their current providers. Gartner projects end-user spending on GenAI models in Europe to grow 78.2% in 2026.”
“Cloud investments in Europe will be more turbulent in 2026 as CIOs focus on digital sovereignty and move their cloud services closer to home,” said Lovelock.
Gartner projects end-user public cloud services spending to grow 24% in 2026.
In 2026, software spending will remain a high spending priority for European organisations as they aim for more intelligent, efficient and personalized applications.
In addition, price increases across all software categories are raising software spending.
The device market will experience a similar boost (18.8%), with manufacturers adding AI features to devices and raising prices to offset the cost of additional hardware.
The Importance of IT Infrastructure
The push to develop AI infrastructure will continue to raise demand and growth expectations for servers, particularly AI-optimized servers.
In Europe, end-user spending on AI-optimised servers is forecast to reach $46.8 billion in 2026, up from $39.3 billion in 2025, a distant third place to North America’s $170 billion and China’s $67 billion projected spending.
“Europe is facing regulatory pressure, competition between countries, geopolitical tensions, and national security concerns-all focused on making sure Europe can develop and manage AI systems on its own, without depending on foreign platforms or providers,” said Lovelock.
Lovelock added that while existing software providers add GenAI features to their products to encourage GenAI adoption, AI platforms made for Europe are becoming part of important national infrastructure.
By 2027, 35% of countries will be locked into region-specific AI platforms using proprietary contextual data, Gartner predicts.
Platform lock-in is also projected to rise from 5% to 35% by 2027 as governments will urge major cloud providers to work with local companies to make their platforms more regional, to meet regulatory requirements and support national interests.
Gartner’s IT spending forecast methodology relies heavily on rigorous analysis of the sales by over a thousand vendors across the entire range of IT products and services.
Gartner uses primary research techniques, complemented by secondary research sources, to build a comprehensive database of market size data on which to base its forecast.
The UK government is launching a new scholarship programme to support students studying AI and other STEM subjects at nine of the UK’s universities.
The Spärck AI scholarships, named after pioneering British computer scientist Karen Spärck Jones, will provide full funding for master’s degrees at nine leading UK universities specialising in artificial intelligence and STEM subjects – from Edinburgh to Manchester, and Newcastle to Bristol.
Set to rival the likes of globally recognised Rhodes, Marshall and Fulbright scholarships, at least 100 talented master’s level students from the UK and abroad will see access to industry partnerships, work placements and mentorship opportunities, including in the UK’s AI Security Institute as well as leading tech firms like Darktrace, Faculty and Quantexa.
This aims to only drive forward AI innovation that grows the UK economy but also gives young people a direct route into highly skilled jobs in the UK’s tech sector.
By covering both tuition and living expenses, the scholarship backed by £17.6 million in funding could also be of interest to talented students from low-income backgrounds who might otherwise be unable to afford university – spreading opportunity across the UK.
“We are providing unique opportunities for talented young people to take up master’s degrees in AI, with fully funded tuition and unparalleled access to industry,” the previous tech secretary, Peter Kyle, said.
“Students will be able to go on to highly skilled jobs, building a workforce fit for the future and boosting economic growth as part of our Plan for Change.
“We are also expanding our fellowship programme to bring top talent into our leading AI sector and drive forward transformational benefits to the public like new drug discoveries.”
The government has also announced an expansion of its Turing AI Fellowships with new Pioneer fellowships, providing established professionals from any part of science, humanities, academia, or industry with resources to develop AI skills and knowledge to tackle a specific challenge in their fields. Fellows will receive research funding and be connected with AI mentors, experts, and industry leaders.
Applications for the scholarship will open in Spring 2026, with the first cohort beginning their studies in October 2026.
Participating universities include: Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, UCL, Southampton, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester and Bristol.
Insolvency-related activity rose by 17% in Scotland last month, says R3, the UK’s restructuring, turnaround and insolvency trade body. R3’s analysis of data provided by CreditSafe indicated an increase in insolvency-related activities from 106 in September to 124 in October.
October 2024 figures are 9% higher than the same period in 2024, which saw a spike in insolvency activity.
The monthly increase in insolvency-related activity which includes administrator and liquidator appointments together with creditors’ meetings is a trend mirrored in the vast majority of the rest of the UK, with a decrease only in Wales.
“The rise in insolvency-related activity in Scotland last month is a clear sign of the ongoing pressures businesses are facing,” Emma Widdowson, chair of R3 in Scotland and legal director at Addleshaw Goddard, said.
“A 17% increase from September to October, and figures that are 9% higher than the same period in 2024, underline the challenging economic environment and the strain on company finances ahead of the November budget.
“This trend isn’t isolated to Scotland as we’re seeing similar patterns across most of the UK. Factors such as sustained cost pressures, tighter margins, and the increasing impact of interest rates and inflation continue to weigh heavily on businesses.
“For directors, these figures are a reminder of the importance of acting early if financial distress becomes apparent. Seeking advice from a qualified insolvency practitioner at the first signs of trouble can open up more options and help protect value for creditors and stakeholders.
“R3 members remain committed to supporting and advocating for practical solutions that help businesses navigate these challenges. The profession plays a vital role in the economy, and these statistics highlight just how critical that role is in times of uncertainty.”
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is partnering with the financial authority of Singapore to support safe and responsible AI innovation across finance.
This partnership aims to enable innovative firms in the UK and Singapore to scale and operate across markets more effectively.
For the first time, the FCA will also establish a presence in Singapore with the appointment of an FCA Financial Services Attaché based at the British High Commission, forming part of a wider plan to establish a presence other priority markets next year.
A key element of the partnership will be the joint testing of AI solutions, exchange of regulatory insights, and collaborative events to spotlight best-in-class approaches.
“Through our partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, we’ll be championing safe and responsible AI innovation across UK and Singapore markets,” Jessica Rusu, chief data, information and intelligence officer at the FCA said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how it enables firms in both countries to grow through collaboration, gauge new cross-border opportunities, and shape the future of responsible AI innovation in finance.
“Our appointment to Singapore helps us expand our network of financial services attachés around the world, strengthen our regulatory relationship with MAS and promote the UK as a global hub for financial services.”
As organisations race to embed AI into every product and workflow, most have lost sight of where and how those AI components are actually being used – creating a new class of security vulnerabilities that traditional tools were not built to secure.
This is what Harness, an AI DevOps Platform firm, describes as the AI visibility crisis.
According to The State of AI-Native Application Security 2025 report, 75% of security practitioners say shadow AI will eclipse the risks once caused by shadow IT, with the majority of organisations already reporting security incidents tied to the use of AI capabilities.
The findings highlight a deeper shift: shadow AI isn’t just a new risk category, it’s a symptom of lost visibility and control as AI-native applications rapidly multiply across organisations. Security teams are struggling to monitor their tool sprawl, and communication breakdowns between development and security teams exacerbate the problem even further.
AI’s Expanding Attack Surface
As enterprises rush to adopt AI, security teams are struggling to understand and govern what is being built.
Based on responses from 500 security practitioners and decision-makers across the US, UK, France, and Germany, the study revealed a sprawling security landscape as AI continues to proliferate.
Shadow AI is the new shadow IT, as 62% of those surveyed say they have no visibility into where LLMs are in use across their organisation.
AI sprawl is also outpacing control, with about three in four (74%) respondents saying AI sprawl will “blow API sprawl out of the water” when it comes to risk.
Beyond this, the threat landscape is evolving, as 82% of respondents believe AI-native applications are the new frontier for cyber-criminals, and 63% consider those apps more vulnerable than traditional IT applications.
AI-native apps appear to already be under attack, as enterprises have already experienced incidents involving LLM prompt injection (76%), vulnerable LLM code (66%), and LLM jailbreaking (65%).
Adding to the problem is a lack of responsibility – 62% of those surveyed say developers aren’t taking responsibility for security AI-native apps, and only 43% say developers build with security from the start.
“Shadow AI has become the new enterprise blind spot,” said Adam Arellano, Field CTO at Harness. “Traditional security tools were built for static code and predictable systems – not for adaptive, learning models that evolve daily. Security has to live across the entire software lifecycle – before, during, and after code – so teams can move fast without losing visibility or control.”
The AI Security Divide
While AI adoption continues to surge, with almost two-thirds (61%) of new enterprise applications now designed with AI components. The challenge is that most teams have not dedicated the time for security training or provided the oversight required to secure these apps effectively.
Developers say they don’t have the time (62%) to implement comprehensive AI-native security, while 62% say they lack the necessary expertise.
Two-thirds (75%) report that AI applications evolve faster than security can keep up, revealing a mismatch between speed and defence.
Further, collaboration breakdowns are widening the gap, with only 34% of developers notifying security before starting AI projects, and just 53% before going live.
This could be all down to perception, as 74% of security leaders say developers view security as a blocker to AI innovation.
“AI has redrawn the enterprise attack surface overnight,” Arellano added. “Where teams once monitored code and APIs, they now must secure model behaviour, training data, and AI-generated connections. The only way forward is for security and development to operate as one – embedding governance directly into the software delivery process.”
Building AI Security Resilience
Without immediate visibility into where AI is being used – and by which teams – organisations face an accelerating cycle of risk. Untracked models, exposed APIs, and unsanctioned AI tools are becoming the new shadow infrastructure, making it nearly impossible to enforce policy or detect compromise.
To build AI-native security resilience, Harness recommends that enterprises:
Build security in from the start through shared governance between security and development.
Discover all new AI components as they appear and ensure they are monitored and logged.
Gain real-time visibility into AI components, APIs, and model outputs to detect anomalies early.
Dynamically test applications against AI-specific threats to identify security risks prior to production
Protect AI-native applications in production to reduce risk of sensitive data disclosure
As the UK government continues its push towards AI deployment and development, investments in infrastructure and AI skills have been paramount to achieve its AI ambitions.
Some of the numbers being thrown around are quite staggering: It was revealed in January that the UK AI sector was attracting £200 million pounds in investment… every single day.
Then, just this year, the first ever UK-US Tech Prosperity Deal revealed £31bn in AI infrastructure investment, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicting that it will make the UK an “AI superpower.”
This is all good and well – of course we need the foundation and infrastructure to enable innovation but there’s a huge elephant in the room.
Data underpins AI. It’s not unrealistic to even say it almost completely dictates the usefulness (or potential for misuse) that the technology represents. It’s a vital bedrock that is still often misunderstood, overlooked, and underappreciated in the rush to slap on an ‘AI-enabled’ sticker on any given product or service.
The fact that data has such an overwhelming bearing on this technology so poised to be transformational surely means that data governance is front and centre of the discourse?
Unfortunately, not so. Data governance is falling behind compared to AI implementation, leaving a critical gap in AI policy, sabotaging return on investment, eroding trust, and preventing AI from reaching its full potential.
To delve into this critical gap, DIGIT spoke with Stuart Harvey, CEO of Datactics, a data management and governance firm, to discuss data governance best practice and the importance of strong data foundations when it comes to AI.
The Plumbing
AI is sexy – fresh, new, attracting a lot of attention from investors, driving the stock market in a tizzy, and governments can’t get enough of it. Everyone is talking about it, for better or worse.
Data governance? Less so. Stuart Harvey likens it to plumbing – foundational, integral, but ultimately less exciting than flashy large language models or copilots. Still, without plumbing, you’re going to end up with a lot of, well, problems.
Proper data management ranges from unifying and consolidating fragmented data systems and data silos, to managing data bias and limitations.
It involves a master data management system, a data lineage system, and a quality matching system which Harvey believes is essential.
“This extracts the critical data element from the data catalogue,” Harvey explaines. “This means you know how important the data is, you know who owns it. You know what it is in terms of the information type, it shows you the critical pieces in the data journey.
“And so if we can measure data, it’s timeliness, it’s accuracy, it’s criticality at each step through that journey.”
All of this essential data ‘plumbing’ means that any AI system relying on this data is auditable, accountable, and explainable. These three key elements are essential to making an Ai model responsible and trustworthy.
But these data plumbing foundations are often being overlooked or not neglected.
Data is proving to be something of a headache to organisations trying to realise the full potential of their AI investments.
Fragmented data from multiple legacy systems and departmental silos can cloud the ability of AI to process all the data it needs to make important decisions and truly revolutionise industries.
Without this, Harvey says AI is simply not achieving its full potential.
“I think there’s two ways of looking at AI: one is as machine learning – it’s like a new tool, a new feature. It’s the equivalent of say, spell check in Word 95,” Harvey started.
“Or, it’s a paradigm shift where it completely replaces a business function or the people associated with it.”
What Harvey has seen so far with clients – which range from large financial institutions to the Home Office and other UK government departments – is the former, rather than the latter.
“It’s an extremely useful tool for productivity and software development, maybe to process and summarise documents, but that’s a feature extension.”
And this could be what is stalling ROI when it comes to AI – people are spending millions on AI because it’s shiny and new, but it is not necessarily transformational.
“My concern is that people are going full tilt on adopting GenAI and LLMs as a solution to problems, but these tools can be rather opaque and lack the ability to join up the breadcrumbs.
Datactics works largely with organisations at the forefront of governance and regulation – large financial institutions that must have strong security and handle mass amounts of data, and government organisations that are perhaps bearing the brunt of the ethical dilemmas that come with AI’s hasty deployment.
What it comes down to, according to Harvey, is how AI is being implemented.
“You have deterministic reasoning, and probabilistic reasoning.”
Harvey distinguished the two: deterministic follows a strict set of rules and ensures explainability and accountability. It can be explained that why x may be equal to y but greater than z because it uses rules and follows a strict set of code.
Probabilistic is more problematic, and can be seen in generative AI models that lack explainability, can issue different answers to the same question, and hallucinate inaccuracies.
This is not to say that probabilistic – and by extension, genAI – does not have value or the potential for extreme transformation, but mitigating its faults, making it accountable, needs solid data plumbing.
Data Governance Best Practice
When it comes to actually implementing good data ‘plumbing’ and good data governance, firms of all sizes face challenges.
Smaller firms typically struggle to get the funds for the skilled staff they need to clean up their data and implement it safely and securely into any AI. Pairing this with the growing AI skills gap and the risk of shadow AI, many SMEs may simply avoid implementing AI in any truly impactful manner, or risk data protection and security issues.
Larger companies typically have the funds to hire outside help or hire top talent, so their challenges delve into the nitty gritty of data.
Legacy data held on multiple inoperable platforms, duplicate data, augmented data can all create a quagmire that larger institutions can sink into. Data security, especially when it comes to breaches, is a top concern for larger firms embarking on their data journey, Harvey finds.
But let’s venture a step further: what does good data governance mean when it comes to AI?
“You have to prioritise accurate data. You have to have consistency in your model, and ensure that you have good guidance and standards around data relevance to the problem you are trying to solve,” Harvey explained some of the paramount features of proper data governance.
Continuous monitoring, no matter the size of the organisation, is also vital when it comes to implementing AI. “Data quality isn’t a one time thing.”
None of these concepts are exactly new – there are organisations providing guidance and tools to organisations on data best practice, like the Enterprise Data Management Association and the Data Management Association.
“At the moment it sort of feels like people are trying to solve a particular niche problem, rather than dealing with foundational issues,” Harvey said.
And these foundational issues are integral for a reason.
“Without those being in place, you don’t have any transparency, you don’t have the ability to say if your data comes from a trusted source,” Harvey said.
Issues like inconsistent, erroneous data, and targeted attacks leading to data poisoning can all corrupt models, Harvey says. The stakes are high.
“Without tools like data quality matching tools, cataloguing tools, lineage tools that sit on top of data, you don’t have the means for transparency.”
This can be devastating for building the trust essential in rolling out AI across essential services that impact people’s everyday lives.
Working with government departments, Harvey is seeing a conservative approach to AI integration, with officials questioning processes to ensure transparency and explainability across AI outputs and decision-making.
At Datactics, the firm uses an internal policy group to review any AI tools and how they might be deployed within the organisation.
Other large organisations are held to high standards for data governance and data protection, such as large banks.
But with the UK government’s push to become an AI superpower, it remains to be seen if all companies are taking this careful approach to AI integration.
It brings questions and concerns to AI rollouts in areas like immigration, biometrics, as well as the prominent use of shadow AI seen across enterprises.
To mitigate these issues, Harvey and Datactics urge for a deterministic model approach to AI adoption with robust data foundations to protect people from the downfalls of hastily created AI models. This may also usher in a more transformative era of AI, allowing not only the financial return on investment the market has been waiting for, but a return on innovation as well.
Synnovis, the UK pathology service provider which faced a ransomware attack in June 2024 is now notifying healthcare providers of the data breach and patient data theft that resulted from the attack.
The London-based provider has partnerships with the National Health Service, SYNLAB, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
It is reaching out to affected organisations, which will then contact affected patients who have had their data stolen.
“We have now begun notifying the organisations whose data was affected and expect to conclude this process by 21 November 2025,” Synnovis said in an update.
“This marks the latest stage of investigation that has taken a large team of forensic experts and data specialists over a year to complete”
It described the stolen data as “unstructured, incomplete and fragmented, requiring the use of highly specialised platforms and bespoke processes to piece it together – factors which heavily influenced the duration of the investigation.”
Stolen data includes NHS numbers, patient names, dates of birth, and even test results that can be matched to other data. Synnovis has, however, assured that the majority of the data would require “clinical knowledge” to decipher further.
The 2024 ransomware attack left a “major impact” on Synnovis’s operations, as many appointments and blood transfusions across London hospitals were cancelled or rerouted through other providers. London even faced blood shortages due to the operational impact, highlighting the devastating impact ransomware can have on critical infrastructure such as health.
Ninety-seven per cent of people surveyed could not tell the difference between fully AI-generated music and human made music in a new survey from Deezer and Ipsos.
The survey comes as an AI “band” – Breaking Rust – hit number one on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, and as artists voice their concerns about copyright, AI transparency, and fair compensation.
The survey reached 9000 listeners across the UK, US, Canada, Brazil, France, Netherlands, Germany, and Japan. A majority (71%) were surprised by inability to identify AI-generated music, with more than half (52%) feeling uncomfortable by not being able to tell the difference.
The study revealed that nearly half (45%) of participants would like to filter out 100% AI-generated music from their streaming platform, while 40% said they would skip AI music without listening if they came across it.
Music listeners overwhelmingly agreed (80%) that 100% AI-generated music should be clearly labelled to listeners, with 73% saying they would like to know if a music streaming service is recommending AI music.
Further, 52% said that 100% AI-generated songs should not be included in charts alongside human-made songs, with only 11% thinking AI-generated songs should be treated equally.
This sentiment may be too little too late, however, as Breaking Rust’s Walk My Walk, a country song, topped Billboard’s country chart last week.
Billboard said that other AI artists are gaining traction and popularity – according to Spotify, Breaking Rust has more than two million monthly listeners, and is not flagged by Spotify as being AI.
Many music listeners are concerned about fairness to artists when it comes to AI – 65% say AI should not be allowed to use copyrighted material for training to create music, with 73% calling the practice unethical.
Seven in ten think the practice threatens the livelihood of artists, with 69% thinking AI-generated music should receive a lower payout from streaming services than human-made music.
Copyright infringement is already a major concern for artists – two AI music startups were sued by major record labels last year over copyright infringement to produce songs. Anthropic also received a lawsuit from music publishers over allegedly training its AI chatbot Claude on copyrighted music.
Mainstream streaming services are already notoriously difficult to profit from for small artists, and while many consumers are comfortable with AI recommending songs (46%), users are concerned about a lack of creativity and revenue for human artists.
While half (51%) think AI will have a significant role in music creation in the next ten years, the same amount think that AI will lead to more generic sounding, low-quality music being released.
Overall, 64% think that AI could lead to a loss of creativity in music production.
It remains to be seen though, if this concerned consumer response will ripple effectively into the music industry, or if we will have to get used to seeing more AI bands penetrating the charts.
The UK government has approved child safety charities and tech firms to actively test AI systems to ensure they cannot make child sexual abuse imagery (CSAM) in an effort to curb the insidious practice.
The new rules come in an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which will allow these “authorised testers” to examine AI tools on their ability to create child sexual abuse material before they are released.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) removed 426 CSAM pieces from the web between January and October 2025, a two-fold year-on-year increase, the charity said.
The IWF also reported a disturbing rise in depictions of infants, images of those depicted as 0-2 years old surging from 5 in 2024 to 92 in 2025.
Currently, criminal liability to create and possess this material means developers can’t carry out safety testing on AI models, and images can only be removed after they have been created and shared online.
This measure, one of the first of its kind in the world, ensures AI systems’ safeguards can be robustly tested from the start, to limit its production in the first place.
The laws will also enable organisations to check models have protections against extreme pornography, and non-consensual intimate images.
While possessing and generating child sexual abuse material is already illegal under UK law, both real and synthetically produced by AI, improving AI image and video capabilities present a growing challenge.
“We will not allow technological advancement to outpace our ability to keep children safe,” technology secretary Liz Kendall said.
“These new laws will ensure AI systems can be made safe at the source, preventing vulnerabilities that could put children at risk.
“By empowering trusted organisations to scrutinise their AI models, we are ensuring child safety is designed into AI systems, not bolted on as an afterthought.”
The UK government is also bringing in a group of experts in AI and child safety to ensure the work carried out is done so safely and securely.
The group will help design the safeguards needed to protect sensitive data, prevent risk of any illegal content being leaked, and support the wellbeing of researchers involved.
IWF chief executive Kerry Smith welcomed the new rules: “We welcome the government’s efforts to bring in new measures for testing AI models to check whether they can be abused to create child sexual abuse.
“For 3 decades, we have been at the forefront of preventing the spread of this imagery online – we look forward to using our expertise to help further the fight against this new threat.
“AI tools have made it so survivors can be victimised all over again with just a few clicks, giving criminals the ability to make potentially limitless amounts of sophisticated, photorealistic child sexual abuse material. Material which further commodifies victims’ suffering, and makes children, particularly girls, less safe on and off line.
“Safety needs to be baked into new technology by design. Today’s announcement could be a vital step to make sure AI products are safe before they are released.”
The pervasive use of AI is forcing business and IT leaders to rethink their workforce.
Executive leaders should adopt various scenarios where human and AI can collaborate effectively, according to Gartner.
Ai will indelibly alter how human workers perform work in the future, however there will not be a jobs apocalypse. Instead, starting in 2028-2029, there will be jobs chaos created by the need to reconfigure, redesign, splinter, and fuse over 32 million jobs each year.
“Every day 150,000 jobs will evolve through upskilling, while 70,000 more jobs will need to be rewritten, reworked, and redesigned,” Helen Poitevin, distinguished VP analyst said. “Executive leaders must plan their AI investments and goals to anticipate and manage these changes.
“They need to decide on their destination —whether to pursue human-first designs that emphasise supporting people in their work, or to select AI-first designs that aim to maximize efficiency by relying on AI to perform tasks.”
The goal is not a worker-free enterprise, but a work-redefined enterprise: adaptive, creative, and profoundly human at its core. Because being “AI-first” only succeeds when it is, above all, people-first.
“The next era of enterprise performance will not hinge on the quantity of people employed, but on the quality of collaboration between humans and AI,” said Poitevin.
Gartner presented four scenarios illustrating how both human-fist and AI-first strategies could shape the impact of AI on jobs and organisations.
Fewer workers doing the work AI can’t: Humans want AI to do the work, and work is the same (but with AI). Humans want AI to do the work, yet work is not significantly transformed. People must fill in the gaps left where AI is not able to do certain tasks effectively. Higher degrees of automation lead to the need for fewer workers. This scenario is used in customer service where customer service employees are left to take on the work that AI could not accomplish.
Fewer to no workers running an AI-first enterprise: Humans want Ai to do the work, and work is transformed with fewer workers than before. This represents autonomous business.
Many busy workers using AI to work better and do more: Humans want to do the work with AI, and work is the same, but with AI. This is what everyday AI looks like.
Many innovative workers combining with AI to surpass the frontiers of knowledge: Humans want to do the work with AI and work is transformed. It allows humans to go after bigger and more challenging questions to find solutions. This scenario could apply to personalised medicine – it can only happen if humans connect different fields, share information and expand their understanding of health and well-being.
“No matter which scenario executive leaders pursue, they must be ready to support all four,” said Poitevin.
“The ripple effects of AI will make each scenario a reality. Leaders need to invest in both types of designs but emphasise on what is possible with AI, embracing an abundance mindset – a mindset whereby AI helps leaders to tackle today and tomorrow’s challenges in new ways.”
AI skills training options are falling behind demand as AI adoption is on the rise in the UK, Accenture’s latest data shows.
Only about a quarter of professionals surveyed by the firm had experienced any training for AI, but 78% were using already using generative AI at least weekly for work.
This reflects not only a massive potential skills and training gap, but also raises issues around shadow AI and unauthorised uses of AI in the workplace.
Further, a lack of proper AI training for existing workers could increase the skills gap that needs to be filled in order for the UK to achieve the AI ambitions set out by the government.
Despite almost all (91%) UK employees expressing their willingness to learn new AI skills and experiment with the technology in their work, organisations are falling short of this demand.
A lack of training can mean that investments in AI are also not being fully realised, as AI is not being used to its maximum potential.
Workers are also concerned about using AI in the workplace, however, as many (53%) are unsure who would be responsible if the tech were to go wrong.
“UK workers are showing real enthusiasm for AI, but the training structures around them haven’t caught up,” managing director of talent and organisation at Accenture UK&I, Joe Hildebrand, said. “Leaders need to move beyond bolt-on training programmes and start creating environments where people and intelligent agents learn together in real time.”
“This means encouraging curiosity in the workforce and weaving learning into everyday work, while making sure trust is hardwired in through clear governance. Companies also need to make sure their AI tools align with how people are working on the ground. In doing so, firms will unlock growth, trust and competitiveness in the AI economy.”
A new study reveals that UK creators are proving themselves as successful entrepreneurs as the creator economy continues to grow internationally.
The Visa ‘Monetized Report’ showcases how TikTok creators are actively developing business skills – blending self-taught lessons and peer learning, particularly in areas like contract negotiation and financial management.
This drive is already turning into tangible success, with the report revealing the majority of UK based creators earn £1,600 or more per month, with 34% receiving between £1,600 and £3,999. Optimism is high, with 88% of creators worldwide expecting their revenue to increase over the next year, reflecting growing ambition in their earning potential.
The report also highlights that UK creators are asserting their role in the business ecosystem, with 73% viewing their content creation as a small business and 54% identifying as successful entrepreneurs.
As the creator economy continues to expand, the need for support and financial education from more established industries is clear. While creators express strong confidence in their creative and digital skills, only 49% feel equally confident managing their finances.
Visa formalised its commitment to creators at Web Summit in 2024, where it officially recognised creators as small businesses.
The findings of the report strengthen Visa’s dedication to serving this next generation of entrepreneurs with advanced payment technology, educational resources and flexible financial products tailored for creators’ unique needs. This wave of creator-led commerce represents a key milestone in the transformation of B2B payments, as the existing parameters around spending are shifting.
“UK creators are thriving—earning more and reaching global audiences like never before and fully deserving their status as real businesses,” Lucy Demery, head of Visa Commercial Solutions, Europe at Visa said.
“Their momentum highlights the UK’s leadership in the creator economy, and we’re committed to delivering innovative tools that help them grow, scale, and lead worldwide.”
The global study, which spanned from Australia, Brazil, UAE, UK and the US, revealed that most creators rely on personal funds, community support, and innovative funding such crowdfunding.
Modern payment processors are also preferred by most influencers, which enables a global audience and faster access to earnings, though payment delays remain a challenge.
Most (94%) creators report encouragement from friends and family, giving credence to content creation’s reputation as a valued career path.
While businesses are continually adopting AI, the disconnect between AI deployment and human readiness is leaving a critical business value gap, according to an EY survey.
However, the survey found that when used effectively and on stable talent foundations, AI can unlock up to 40% more productivity gains within companies.
EY’s 2025 Work Reimagined Survey covered 15,000 employees and 1,500 employers across 29 countries, revealing major workplace hang-ups when it comes to AI.
While nearly nine in ten (88%) of employees use AI in their daily work, their usage is mostly limited to basic applications, such as search and summarising documents. Only a small number (5%) are using it in advanced ways to transform the way they work.
Thirty-seven per cent of employee respondents worry that overreliance on AI could erode their skills and expertise, while 64% perceive an increase in their workloads due to pressure to perform.
Yet only 12% are receiving sufficient AI training to unlock the full productivity benefits. Furthermore, despite attempts by employers to offer internal tools, shadow AI is still prevalent; between 23-58% of employees surveyed across various sectors globally are bringing their own AI solutions to work.
The survey highlights a critical disconnect: when AI adoption and new technology land on fragile talent foundations – weak culture, ineffective learning and misaligned rewards – the potential benefits of AI are significantly diminished.
Organisations that effectively integrate talent and technology – what the research calls “Talent Advantage” – unlock greater value, yet only 28% are on track to achieve this, according to the research.
“AI is everywhere – but companies seem to be missing out on its full potential, held back by a gap between adoption and human readiness,” Kim Billeter, EY global and EY Americas People Consulting Leader, said.
“Most employees surveyed are still using AI for basic tasks, while concerns around job security, skill erosion and rising workloads are creating resistance. When organizations master both talent and technology, AI helps deliver outsized results, but neglecting the human side can erode those gains.”
Learning and Culture
Global talent health – a key indicator of employee’s as “net promoters” – rose by 10 points year-on-year, moving from 55 to 65 on a 0-100 index (an 18% lift), reflecting greater satisfaction with rewards, development, and culture.
This improvement coincides with a reduction in quit intent to 29%, the lowest reported level in four years, compared to a peak of 43% during the “Great Resignation” in 2021.
In a cooling job market, employees are hunkering down. However, when it comes to AI, the picture is different. Leadership plays a vital role in fostering a supportive culture for adoption and continuous learning, which is essential for maintaining talent health.
Leaders who care, trust and empower their teams set the tone for culture, driving 44% of talent health.
The survey also reveals that while investing in employee upskilling drives transformation, it also presents retention challenges.
Employees receiving over 81 hours of annual AI training report an average productivity gain of 14 hours per week – well above the median of eight hours.
However, these employees are also 55% more likely to leave their organisation, as AI talent is highly sought after and external opportunities outweigh internal promotion cycles.
Employers can mitigate retention challenges by offering comprehensive total rewards, including access to technology, flexibility and career opportunities that leverage AI skills.
“The widespread adoption of AI is evident, yet many organizations are still seeing only modest returns,” Billeter said.
“Our findings highlight the urgent need to address the human side of AI adoption. As AI reshapes the workplace, leaders must build cultures that support both talent health and effective technology use.
“Organisations that strengthen their talent foundations while advancing AI applications will be best positioned to achieve transformational results. It’s about creating the right conditions for people and technology to thrive.”
The Scottish Games Network Ltd., in partnership with the University of Glasgow’s Games & Gaming Lab (UofGGamesLab) and the Scottish Games Education Network (SGEN), is launching the inaugural Hello World! Scottish Students Startup Summit.
The summit plans on addressing a key question facing all young innovators: “Is starting my own games business in Scotland right for me?”
Supported by the Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund, the one-day event is set to take place on Monday, March 2, 2026, at the state-of-the-art Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre (ARC) Building at the University of Glasgow.
The summit will bring together 200 undergraduate and postgraduate students, recent graduates, and young people from across Scotland’s universities and colleges, studying games and adjacent technology sectors, linking them with representatives from education, enterprise, business, industry, and policymaking.
The announcement comes as new research from TIGA reveals undergraduate enrolment in UK games and animation courses has skyrocketed by 279% over the last decade, creating a massive, highly skilled talent pool that urgently requires entrepreneurial pathways. Hello World! is the perfect response, fulfilling the industry’s stated need for commercial and entrepreneurial skills.
The summit is designed to break down barriers to entrepreneurship, particularly for underrepresented groups and individuals transitioning from education, by providing practical skills, direct access to business support, and critical networking opportunities.
Hello World! will offer space for all of the startup, entrepreneurial and business support organisations across Scotland and the UK, the chance to showcase their services and meet the next generation of games entrepreneurs.
Educators, lecturers and heads of course/programme are also welcome to let them meet the business support organisations and ensure they have the contacts and context to help student entrepreneurs of the future.
Crucially, thanks to Ecosystem funding, the summit will also provide transport options to the venue and will incorporate an online/remote participation channel to ensure inclusion for students from remote areas, excluded communities, or those with accessibility needs.
“Our goal is to create the kindling for Scotland’s future creative and digital economies,” said Brian Baglow, the CEO of Scottish Games Network.
“The Hello World! Summit is an essential new event, bridging the gap between education, academic achievement and commercial reality. We’re not just offering inspiration; we’re providing a hands-on day to help our potential new entrepreneurs. We’re planning a co-founder finder session, direct access to every major support organisation they need to turn a brilliant idea into a sustainable – or even scalable – Scottish startup.”
Business Minister Richard Lochhead said: “Scotland’s future economy will be shaped by the creativity and ambition of our young people, and I’m delighted that our Ecosystem Fund is supporting this event for Scotland’s future founders, helping develop the key business skills that will turn visions into the high-growth start-ups of the future.
“Scotland’s gaming industry is experiencing extraordinary growth that demonstrates our nation’s capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship, and this dedicated initiative for the next generation of games and creative industry entrepreneurs will help continue this success.”
Students and recent graduates from all Scottish institutions are invited to register their interest now.
The summit will feature keynote speakers from Scottish games and tech founders, hands-on workshops, and a find a co-founder session.
The event is also seeking sponsors, with more information available here.
Energy requirements are holding Europe back from realising its data centre goals, as AI energy consumption continues to grow and calls for data sovereignty mount.
This is according to research from Savills, which found that energy consumption from data centres in Europe accounts for 1% to 18% of national electricity consumption.
In large urban areas, it can make up to between 33% and 42% of electricity in London, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt, and even 80% in Dublin.
Energy demand is only projected to increase, as the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that data centre energy demand will more than double by 2030, with AI largely driving this increase.
Energy grids will have to meet this demand, but about 30% of Europe’s current energy grid is over 40 years old, with some parts even older. Estimates from EY show that necessary upgrades will take a yearly investment of €67 billion.
Despite these requirements, Savills found that Europe saw 850MW of power capacity delivered since the beginning of the year, an 11% decrease from last year.
New uptake reached 845MW this year, which represents only half of the power leased last year.
Demand is strong, however, with about a quarter of take up now pre-let compared with a fifth three years ago.
“The persistent imbalance between surging demand and restricted supply continues to underpin rental values”, Cameron Bell, director, EMEA data centre advisory at Savills said.
“Following three years of sharp increases, average rents have stabilised across the region. Nonetheless, with accelerating AI related requirements, rising energy costs and sustained construction inflation, further upward pressure on pricing is widely anticipated for the rest of 2025 and beyond.”
European Data Centre Association research fond that the greatest data centre challenges of the next three years will be access to power, followed by regulatory compliance and permitting.
Besides the necessary upgrades and investment needed in energy grid, energy is also constrained by campaigns to ensure renewable energy is used to power data centres in an effort to decrease their carbon emissions.
In EMEA, the amount of renewables in total electricity generation is 33% in 2024, an increase from 26% five years ago. In Europe, greener energy accounts for 42% of its total electricity generation.
Data centre capacity in Europe is growing, with established hubs growing: 9% in UK and Ireland, 10% in Germany, and 15% in France.
“Geographically, we have seen demand remain highly concentrated. Despite discussion around location agnostic strategies when it comes to AI, very few such projects have translated into transactions,” Bell said.
“Instead, operators are doubling down on existing availability zones, reinforcing consolidation in areas with established hyperscaler footprints, reliable energy supply and space for scalable growth.
“While demand is gradually expanding beyond the traditional European hubs, the bulk of the requirements continue to cluster in the FLAP-D (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin) markets, supported by dense populations and the presence of large corporate occupiers.”
Forty per cent of IoT attacks are targeting critical industries and hybrid work as threat actors continue to evolve their tactics and hit larger targets, according to research from Zscaler.
The security firm’s newest ThreatLabz 2025 threat report outlines how threat actors are leveraging malware attacks and constantly evolving their tactics.
The report recovered hundreds of malicious apps in the Google Play Store that have been downloaded over 40 million times, targeting users that are searching for productivity and workflow apps.
Based on Zscaler’s mobile telemetry dataset, the ThreatLabz team identified several emerging mobile threats and new malicious activity, providing valuable insights to help enterprises stay ahead of attackers in a mobile-first world.
Malicious Apps
Similar to last year, this year saw threat actors again developing and releasing malicious applications targeting trusted marketplaces and hybrid work environments.
The result, which the report reveals is a 67% year-over-year increase in Android malware transactions, reflects the continues risks of spyware and banking malware.
ThreatLabz researchers identified 239 such applications hosted on the Google Play Store, which were collectively downloaded 42 million times.
A key distribution channel for this malware was the “Tools” category, disguising malicious applications as productivity and workflow tools. This tactic capitalises on users’ trust in functionality-driven application – a trust that is particularly strong in hybrid and remote work settings where mobile devices are integral to professional tasks.
Manufacturing and Energy sectors remain prime targets for cybercriminals due to the potential for significant returns, the research revealed.
Notably, the energy sector experienced a substantial 387% increase in attacks compared to the previous year, highlighting an escalating threat to critical infrastructure and greater exploitation of vulnerabilities within these essential industries.
In the IoT landscape, the Manufacturing and Transportation sectors continue to be the most frequently targeted verticals. This year, each sector accounted for 20.2% of all observed IoT malware attacks, collectively representing over 40% of total incidents.
This marks a shift from 2024, when Manufacturing alone represented 36% of total incidents, followed by Transportation at 14%. This suggests that while Manufacturing remains a critical target, threat actors are increasingly diversifying their efforts across other high-dependency IoT industries.
“Attackers are pivoting to areas with maximum impact. We’re seeing a YoY rise of 67% in malware targeting mobile devices and 387% in IoT/OT attacks on energy sectors often hosting critical infrastructure, which is a massive swing,” said Deepen Desai, EVP and Chief Security Officer at Zscaler. “A Zero Trust everywhere approach, combined with AI-powered threat detection, is imperative to reducing the attack surface, limit lateral movement, and provide organizations the defense they need against ever-evolving attacks.”
Doctors at the University of Dundee as well as in the US have completed what is believed to be the world’s first stroke surgery using a robot.
Specialist surgeons guided the remote stroke procedure from different hospitals in Dundee and Florida, demonstrating what is being called the first ‘transatlantic surgery.”
Full end-to-end thrombectomies were performed using non-living subjects with prodecure-authentic pathology in the Image Guided Therapy Research Facility (IGTRF) at the University of Dundee.
Two distinguished operators performed remote stroke interventions. World renowned endovascular neurosurgeon Ricardo Hanel, MD, PhD, co-medical director of the Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center performed the transatlantic procedure, operating from Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville on a unique, perfused human cadaver model located at Dundee University in Scotland.
Professor Iris Grunwald, MD, PhD, interventional neuroradiologist, also performed a remote stroke thrombectomy in the same location from a remote hospital in Dundee. She is a global leader in interventional stroke treatment training, and pioneered the use of AI in diagnostic stroke imaging.
The two surgeries were performed within hours of each other, with the doctor using remote technology to operate the robots performing the surgeries.
The technology was produced by Sentante, a med-tech robotics company, as part of the Nvidia Inception Programme which allowed the company to use state-of-the-art technologies purpose built for developing healthcare robots.
The technology relies on a haptic endovascular robotic platform using standard catheterisation laboratory equipment connected to a device equipped with a high resolution sensory system that captures the specialist’s hand movements.
These manipulations are replicated in real time by a robot at the patient’s besides, whether metres or thousands of miles away.
Unlike joystick-controlled surgical robots, Sentante delivers authentic force feedback directly to the surgeon’s fingertips – recreating the tactile experience of manual surgery.
The University of Dundee is the official global training centre of the World Federation for Interventional Stroke Treatment (WIST), housing a unique surgical environment with human models for research and device testing under authentic conditions – before moving into patient trials.
The procedure also evaluated network performance and latency over the transatlantic link, with Sentante partnering with Mischa Dohler, VP of Emerging Technologies at Ericsson, in establishing multi-path connectivity to maintain a stable, secure connection for mission-critical use.
“This is undoubtedly one of the most exciting innovations in stroke intervention in the last decade,” Professor Iris Grunwald said.
“What amazed me most was how tactile the experience was. My hands felt exactly as they usually would if I had been doing a conventional thrombectomy. Sentante is at the forefront of innovation, and has created a viable solution to a major global healthcare problem. For most patients transported to a thrombectomy centre, treatment comes too late.
“Remote robotics has the power to decouple expertise from geography. Our demonstration shows that a specialist can perform a technically demanding neurovascular intervention from thousands of miles away, perhaps even from their home. It was an honour to perform the first remote thrombectomy in a human body and to then be part of the team that delivered the first transatlantic thrombectomy.”
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has launched a campaign to highlight the risks of Crypto Investment Fraud, a crime that costs the public millions every year.
The campaign has a particular focus on men below 45, who are the most frequent victims of crypto fraud.
Crypto investment fraud sees members of the public, interested in growing their money, introduced to fraudulent cryptocurrency platforms, where they are encouraged to send thousands of pounds as an ‘investment’.
Fake digital platforms make would-be investors believe their money is growing, making extraordinary profits in a short period of time. The victims live under the false belief their money can be withdrawn at any time.
The truth is the funds have been stolen by fraudsters. Victims have never been investors – their money has simply been taken.
The campaign activity is delivered with the Home Office’s national Stop! Think Fraud campaign.
This campaign introduces the strapline “Crypto Dream Scam Nightmare” to address how the optimism of becoming involved in Crypto investing is quickly replaced with the fact of losing tens of thousands of pounds, even hundreds of thousands.
Figures released by Action Fraud reveal that in 2024 over 17,000 reports were submitted to Action Fraud by UK victims of crypto investment fraud”. Of these, the most common group of victims were men 25-44.
The Campaign assets include a 60 second video featuring the story of an anonymous victim, who thought his ‘investment’ of £28,000 had grown to £400,000 in six months. In fact he was the victim of Crypto Investment Fraud and the funds were stolen.
It acts as a stark warning to those inexperienced in cryptocurrency, that scammers will convince people that they have been “specially selected” or “deserve huge returns” as a means to extract larger amounts of funds.
The campaign also provides an info sheet on Crypto Investment Fraud including Ten Tips to help the public spot a Crypto Investment Fraud before any money is lost.
Some of the tips include:
Do not respond to unsolicited approaches about day trading or crypto investment companies on social media or dating platforms
Refuse the offer to be a ‘member of an exclusive club’ from a finance ‘professor’ or ‘guru’
Beware of continuous pressure to make additional investments, and of messages being sent outside of business hours.
Be suspicious if you are instructed not to tell family or friends about your ‘new investment’
“Crypto investment fraud is one of the fastest growing types of fraud in the UK, experienced by those who believe their ‘investment’ will vastly grow their money,” Nick Sharp, deputy director fraud at the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) in the NCA, said.
“The knowledge that their money has, in truth, been stolen and they will never see any returns is a financial and emotional loss. Lives are destroyed and people can sometimes never be made whole after falling victim to this crime.
“That is why the NCA is actively targeting and disrupting the criminal networks behind Crypto Investment Fraud through investigations and intelligence sharing with international partners. However, prevention remains equally as important as disruptions.
“This campaign is an important part of our strategy – by raising awareness among an audience of ‘crypto investors’ who may not realise they are on the road to becoming a victim of fraud.
“Taking note of the Crypto Dream Scam Nightmare Ten Tips to look out for in Crypto investing can be the public’s best defence against the fraudsters.”
The Home Office says its Immigration Enforcement service will soon test the use of live facial recognition (LFR) on people immigrating to the UK via legal ports of entry.
The short proof of concept trail will test the effectiveness of LFR at Holyhead using equipment from South Wales Police and Greater Manchester Police to identify individuals who appear on UK watchlists prohibiting them from entering the UK.
The two police departments will also assist in managing the system’s technical and assurance aspects, using their experience in avoiding bias within their own LFR systems.
In the coming weeks, LFR will be deployed at ports where those seeking entry to the UK will pass through “zones of recognition” which monitor people via camera.
The Holyhead port, which is located in North Wales and serves as one of the main gateways for ferries from Ireland, will first trial the tech for three days this week.
The LFR will be trialled to pick up people on a watchlist as they move through the ports, but decisions and next steps will be left up to trained immigration officers if a person is identified by the technology.
The LFR technology is meant to “assist IE personnel to make identification rather than acting as an autonomous machine-based process devoid of user input,” guidance on the tool says.
The trial is meant to not only develop the technology to make it more precise, but also to ensure that it is monitored for its impact on immigration proceedings.
A “robust governance process” will be part of the trial to continually review the impact of the technology as well as to ensure transparency in the trial.
The trial will see data being shared on the Immigration Enforcement website – while personal data will be omitted, data such as the location, date, time, number of alerts, arrests, and other potentially “helpful” information will be shared in an effort to foster transparency in the trial.
Guidance for the trial also states that it “recognises the need” to ensure its systems do not rely on inherent biases and “do not disadvantage individuals based on protected characteristics.”
In the case of false positives, demographic data will be retained by the LFR systems to better its training.
The use of live facial recognition in any circumstances is continually controversial as concerns about privacy, surveillance, and bias rock the industry.
However, recent politicised immigration matters concerning the release of prisoners or the re-entry of people banned from entering the UK has put immigration management under an even more sensitive and scrutinous spotlight.
Ana Stewart is getting to work. Since being appointed as Scotland’s chief entrepreneurial advisor in April, the EY investor and Pathways report co-author has gotten down to business strengthening and standardising Scotland’s approach to bolstering its strength as an entrepreneurial nation.
Early on in her tenure, Stewart helped secure the new round of the Entrepreneurial Education Fund with £1.2 million to support courses and projects to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs from an early age.
Her time as chief entrepreneur has also seen the Scottish EDGE awards secure £3.6 million in Scottish government funding over the next three years, which will continue to support early stage businesses establishing their operations here and abroad.
The Scottish Government also issued a grant of £1.1m to fund under-represented entrepreneurs across the nation through the Pathways Pre-Start Fund to help women and minority groups break into entrepreneurship.
Besides funding and education, Stewart has helped to oversee the creation of a Scottish Ecosystem Platform allowing for better transparency around entrepreneurship data, allowing founders and investors to better gauge and engage with the Scottish business ecosystem.
Despite these lauded achievements, Scotland continues to face a digital skills crisis, only exacerbated by the rise of AI, as well as an entrepreneurial education gap.
Investment opportunities have improved, but are dwarfed by London – while Edinburgh and Glasgow show progress with foreign direct investment attraction, this does not show the full picture of Scotland, a nation of regional disparity when it comes to industry, investment, and digital inclusion.
Seven months into her role, Stewart has turned her attention to scaleups, a “no brainer” next step for her as she tries to help the government build up “Scotland HQ” as an “resilient, robust, and attractive” hub for international investment, entrepreneurship, and economic growth.
Her remit as the Chief Entrepreneur is massive – from helping Scotland attract ever-elusive foreign investment, to supporting diverse business owners and startup founders, to bolstering entrepreneurial skills and spirits through education reform.
But scaleups do seem like the logical culmination of all these efforts – a vibrant startup ecosystem is one thing, but sustaining this into a thriving scaleup nation is another.
Her vision brings Scotland largely back to basics – strengthening and aligning private and public sectors towards a common goal, understanding the needs of scaleups through surveys, and creating measurements and transparency to track progress and understand what works, and what doesn’t.
“We’ve got an impressive start up rate in Scotland,” Stewart assured.
“We’re outperforming the UK from a poor position just five years ago, which is really impressive. But we’re not delivering high performance or good stats around scaleups.”
Scaleups take more funding, sustained growth, different skills sets, strong leadership, and often, international pull. Scaling a business requires access to capital, talent, and a larger market to sustain this growth, all hurdles even the most successful or promising startup can find insurmountable.
“Three years of consecutive growth is about what qualifies as a proper scaleup, and we’re only just scratching the surface, as there isn’t a clear strategy.”
Stewart wants to formalise this strategy, but that first means listening to scaleup founders.
Understanding Where We Are and Where We Want to Be
While the Scottish Government has numerous intermediaries with specific remits to bolster businesses and allocate funding, from Scottish Enterprise to the Scottish National Investment Bank and Scottish EDGE, Stewart explained that “the Scottish Government are so detached from the end beneficiaries, the founders and scale up companies, that they don’t know for sure what the mood is, or how effective these founders or services are.”
The national survey of founders proposed by Stewart is meant to “just have a finger on the pulse of our founders and our scaleups to actually hear what the challenges of the day are.
“To have a centralised version of it doesn’t seem a difficult thing to do,” Stewart said.
The survey and focus on hearing from founders does not necessarily mean that the Scottish Government’s initiatives have been flying blind – Stewart noted the success of the university spin out ecosystem, the burgeoning life sciences, renewables, and tech ecosystems in the Scottish entrepreneurial ecosystem.
But, just like data on the success of Glasgow and Edinburgh in attracting foreign direct investment, or the rise of Scotland’s fintech sector, or even the burgeoning startup system, these pockets of success do not show us the full picture of Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Hearing from other scaleups and their success stories, can help bolster Scotland further along in their scaleup journeys.
Metrics
This also goes into needing to understand what the Scottish scaleup system looks like.
Stewart noted that the Scottish entrepreneurial ecosystem – be in the government or fellow founders – often seemed unaware of its success stories, leaving a void in desperate need of attention, understanding, and celebration.
Stewart’s vision is simple – “it’s not reinventing the wheel” – but it uses already existing tools to pool together and analyse the cold hard data on what Scotland’s top scaleups are, the amount of founders in the nation, how much funding they bring in, and their survival rates.
Of course, Stewart wants to take this data further: “We need to get under the bonnet on why there are less scaleups so we can better understand where our failure points are so we can remedy those.”
Stewart also wants better tracking on the performance of initiatives that already exist – “It shouldn’t be that difficult, in any normal business in the private sector, you would be tracking these.”
A lack of metrics not only stops us from seeing what might not be working, but also means we have no way of tracking what is working.
“Until we get that first bit of data, we’re kind of going a bit blind,” Stewart noted.
And a lack of understanding as to what is driving the success of Scotland’s scaleups arguably keeps these success stories from being replicated across the nation.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” Stewart said, taking a lesson from her Pathways research into female entrepreneurship.
Ideally, Stewart wants to see a top 100 scaleups list for Scotland, so that the government can understand what is working, how to help other scaleups on their journeys, and champion these success stories so other founders know it’s possible.
“We just need to speak to them and actually understand what they’re doing so we know what, as an ecosystem, we can do to support them.”
“But in order to do that, we need to understand who they are.”
Metrics and surveys all collide under industry best practice when trying to roll out initiatives and test their success – as Stewart said, they seem like “no-brainers” especially to someone coming from a private sector background.
Private and public sector collaboration is also part of Stewart’s plans to build and support Scotland’s scaleups, but what does this look like?
Part of the issue is private sector attraction – scaleups need private sector involvement, not just in terms of investment, but also in experience and strategy.
Scaling a business takes a different set of skills than starting one, and Stewart notes that there’s “a big senior executive leadership gap in Scotland,” as well as “a lack of good, solid boards,” in Scotland’s wider ecosystem.
What can attract these is not only metrics and measurements of where we are at, but long-term strategies that private sector organisations can feel more secure in investing in.
Transforming the Scottish EDGE programme strategy to be for three years rather than one year is an example of a transition toward a long-term growth mindset.
“I believe that strengthens its position to be able to go to broader investors because investors will buy into something that’s got a longer term stability in a three-year programme versus a year,” Stewart said.
It’s not just about tying private and public sectors, but aligning the mindset so that data, priorities, and strategies can be more easily transferable to promote seamless collaboration between the two sectors.
Challenges and the Future of Scaleups
While Stewart says that investment is not the only thing holding scaleups in Scotland back, it certainly is a hurdle.
But key to gaining this investment is ensuring that Scotland is seen. Visibility is key, but this needs to be a team effort.
“We need to get investors, c-suite, future CEOs, to want to come to Scotland, not just come to a company.”
But how does that work?
Stewart listed a number of incentives to work around, from improving business tax rates to better compete with England, to creating a physical hub that investors and businesses can centre their Scottish outfits from.
But this also ties into some key challenges scaleups face.
“I do think Scotland’s got great entrepreneurial pedigree. I do and we’re really innovative.
So I don’t have any doubts about our talent to build businesses. I just don’t think the environment’s quite what it needs to be,” Stewart said.
And this plays into why Scotland may be a burgeoning startup nation, but has yet to master scaleups.
A talent gap in senior executives and in board members can be a major barrier to growth – leaders who are great at starting a business may not have the necessary skillset to scale.
But this skills gap at the highest level is only compounded by a skillset at the entry level – Scotland is only beginning to make progress in instilling entrepreneurship into its curriculum, let alone the digital skills gap being exacerbated by AI.
“These are skills gaps, and that’s why we want to be able to bring skills into Scotland, while building them from within. They’re not mutually exclusive – we need both of those things to happen.”
Part of this is the educational programmes Stewart is promoting in her new role with £1.1m in funding from the Scottish government going towards entrepreneurial education towards early education.
But it also ties together the overlying theme of Stewart’s scaleup strategy – by understanding where we are in measurements and metrics and surveys, we can then bolster our position as a nation to strengthen industry ties and attract more talented people and investment to a sustainable ecosystem.
“Growth is a team effort,” Stewart said. Part of the reason for pulling together all this data, hearing from founders struggling while highlighting success stories, is to improve collaboration across the sector.
“We need everybody to do their bit to try and fuel knowledge and insight,” Stewart said.
“We need to use what’s out there, and the intelligence comes from collaborative and creative thinking in how to put these moving pieces together to deliver a scale-up Scotland. We’re at the beginning of that.”
The top emerging risks have shifted in the third quarter of 2025, according to enterprise risk leaders, as global socioeconomic tides continue to churn and the AI boom looms.
The low-growth economic environment, caused by tariff-driven trade tensions and other conditions, moved into the top rank of emerging risks for the third quarter of 2025, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.
The 3Q25 report, based on a survey of 184 senior risk and assurance executives, also revealed mounting concern around artificial intelligence (AI).
AI-related information governance-driven risks, moved up in rank, from the fourth most cited spot in 2Q25 to the second rank in 3Q25, and shadow AI moved from the fifth ranked spot to the third spot, as organizations face challenges in effectively monitoring its use.
“The top five emerging risks in the third quarter highlight a continuum of concern related to two broad themes for enterprises that emerged in the second quarter: A volatile low-growth macroeconomic environment, and AI as the disruptive technology that can increase compliance risks quickly as it is adopted by the mainstream,” said Gamika Takkar, Director, Research, in the Gartner Risk & Audit Practice.
The top risks are as follows:
Low-growth economic environment: The risk that global trade tensions, increased volatility in financial markets, high unemployment and inflation continue to lead a sustained loss of investor and consumer confidence, resulting in a prolonged low-growth economic environment.
Information governance-driven AI risks: Risks related to weak information governance policies or practices that lead to unintended data feeding AI models, causing inaccurate results, legal or policy breaches and privacy failures.
Shadow AI: The risk that employees use unauthorised AI tools and applications outside f their organisation’s approved framework, which can lead to data breaches, compliance issues, inconsistencies or reputational damage.
Increased Extreme Weather Frequency and Severity: The risks of extreme weather (including extreme temperatures) and its effects on humans and technology including risks to operational capabilities, supply chains, critical infrastructure and consumer behaviour.
Deglobalisation: The risk that protectionist federal policy changes and a rise in militarism impacts international trade and cooperation, realigning global supply chains, increasing costs of doing business and heightening geopolitical tensions.
The universe of risks continues to diversify. As emerging risks grow more complex, 72% of ERM leaders say taking timely action is highly important. However, only 15% feel confident in determining what information to spotlight.
“Amid varying emerging risk signals, heads of ERM should prioritise tactics to identify emerging risks that require immediate stakeholder attention for timely response,” said Takkar.
To effectively recognise risks that need immediate attention, risk leaders should take these three steps to fully evaluate the impact and prioritize response:
Set up impact thresholds using diverse parameters. Assess diverse impact parameters, including regulatory, reputational and ESG dimensions to shortlist high-priority emerging risks.
Link emerging risks with strategic priorities. Analyse how emerging risks impact strategic priorities to facilitate targeted action steps that prevent must-avoid outcomes (MAOs).
Use response time with impact and velocity. Factor in organisational response time along with impact and velocity to prioritise emerging risks.
Enterprise risk leaders can also set impact threshold using a range of parameters to consider. These include issues like regulatory impact, which may cause issues that lead to regulatory shutdowns or licensing issues and legal impact, which could cause precedent-setting legal action.
Reputational and customer impact are also important considerations as they could risk irreversible damage and trust, causing customer attrition.
“Enabling ERM leaders to navigate the noise and identify risks that require timely action is top of mind for any enterprise,” said Takkar.
“To make sense of conflicting signals, leaders must be cognizant of risk prioritisation tactics and ensure timely stakeholder to avoid strategic derailment.”
A hairstylist turned tech entrepreneur was the wildcard winner at tonight’s spectacular Scotland Women in Technology (SWiT) 2025 Awards.
Tracey Aitken, co-founder of HairTracker, a digital record card app that allows salon professionals to document a client’s hair journey and details resulting in stronger customer relationships, took home the Career Changer of the Year award.
“Winning this award means I can show up into a room with my head high,” Aitken told DIGIT after winning the award. “Before, I’d go into a room and people wouldn’t take me seriously. This has given me credibility, it shows that I bring something to the table.
“It also shows that you don’t have to be tech savvy to build a tech businesses. It’s about learning how to be comfortable in the uncomfortable, and there’s been a lot of those moments moving from hairdressing to tech.”
Judges commented that Tracy’s journey to tech had been an “inspirational story of determination” and a “huge jump into a completely different sector” in launching a “fantastic idea for her industry.”
Other big winners during the awards ceremony included software testing and quality assurance organisation, 2i Testing and data and AI recruiter, The Data Gals.
Individuals from 2i Testing were recognised in a tremendous three categories for their diversity efforts including the Everyday Leader Award, Inspirational Woman of the Year and Gender Diversity Ally of the Year.
Winners from the company included Victoria Stark, QAT analyst who received the Everyday Leader Award. She was recognised for what the judges said was “the transformation of internal communications, mentorship and empowerment across the organisation.”
Katherine Leyland, software test engineer at 2i Testing was named as Inspirational Woman of the Year. Judges commented that her story was “deeply inspirational – transitioning from teaching to tech, overcoming personal loss, and leading technical transformation.”
Finally, Dawed Saied, senior customer success manager at 2i Testing took home the Gender Diversity Ally of the Year. He was recognised for championing “women in technology, gender diversity and cultivating a supportive environment for all in both his role at 2i as well at Codespace and Edinburgh College.”
Later in the evening, Katarina Svistseva, founder of The Data Gals, a data and AI recruiter was named not only as Mentor of the Year but also took home Inclusive Recruiter of the Year. Judges noted that she had built a “structured, scalable mentorship programme that has supported 84 women across Scotland and Wales.”
“When setting up mentoring, it’s not just about finding the right people to teach engineering or software development, it’s about finding people who have been in the same shoes as you, who can understand you on a personal level. Being a mentor is not just about getting someone to the next step, but it’s about building that community. The community aspect has really been successful for us,” Svistseva told DIGIT.
The organisation was also celebrated for being built entirely on inclusive recruitment principles. From 50/50 shortlists to removing degree requirements, the organisation has seen placement stats far exceed industry averages in the last 12 months.
“The future of Scotland is brighter, more diverse, and far more interesting because of you,” Jessica Mullen, chief design and innovation officer, CreateFuture, said in her closing remarks. “But we still have work to do.
“I know progress doesn’t just happen, it’s designed, it’s built by people like us in this room.”
Silka Patel, Founder and Chair of Scotland Women in Technology said: “Our winners this year are truly inspirational; bringing fresh perspectives from new sectors, supporting a wealth of peers across the UK, and creating supportive environments for diversity to flourish.
“With over 300 award nominations to just 10 winners, our judges commented how difficult it was to whittle down such high calibre entries.
“What is clear, however, is that Scotland is leading the way in Diversity, Equality and Inclusion; and championing this across the spectrum is part of the DNA for many organisations based in the country. Congratulations to each of our winners and finalists this evening.”
The full list of winners for the SWiT Awards 2025 are below:
Category
Name
Role
Organisation
Rising Star Award
Sponsored by Arnold Clark
Sonja Jillich
Associate Software Engineer
JPMorganChase
Career Changer of the Year
Sponsored by FanDuel
Tracey Aitken
Co-founder
HairTracker
Mentor of the Year
Sponsored by Harvey Nash
Katarina Svistseva
Founder
The Data Gals
Gender Diversity Initiative of the Year
Sponsored by 2i Testing
Stellar Elevate Programme, Stellar Omada
Inclusive Recruiter of the Year
Sponsored by Hymans Robertson
The Data Gals
Everyday Leader Award
Sponsored by NatWest
Victoria Stark
QAT Analyst
2i Testing
Unsung Hero Award
Sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group
Julia Newell
Director and Co-founder
BA Life / IIBA Scotland
Inspirational Woman of the Year
Sponsored by Wheatley Group
Katherine Leyland
Software Test Engineer
2i Testing
Gender Diversity Ally of the Year
Sponsored by Avaloq
Dawed Saied
Senior Customer Success Manager
2i Testing
Judges Choice
Sponsored by Morgan Stanley
Sarah Burne James
Client Adoption Specialist
IBM
The SWiT awards headline sponsor this year was JP Morgan Chase, with CreateFuture serving as the Gold Sponsor for the event.
A hairstylist turned tech entrepreneur was the wildcard winner at tonight’s spectacular Scotland Women in Technology (SWiT) 2025 Awards.
Tracey Aitken, co-founder of HairTracker, a digital record card app that allows salon professionals to document a client’s hair journey and details resulting in stronger customer relationships, took home the Career Changer of the Year award.
“Winning this award means I can show up into a room with my head high,” Aitken told DIGIT after winning the award. “Before, I’d go into a room and people wouldn’t take me seriously. This has given me credibility, it shows that I bring something to the table.
“It also shows that you don’t have to be tech savvy to build a tech businesses. It’s about learning how to be comfortable in the uncomfortable, and there’s been a lot of those moments moving from hairdressing to tech.”
Judges commented that Tracy’s journey to tech had been an “inspirational story of determination” and a “huge jump into a completely different sector” in launching a “fantastic idea for her industry.”
Other big winners during the awards ceremony included software testing and quality assurance organisation, 2i Testing and data and AI recruiter, The Data Gals.
Individuals from 2i Testing were recognised in a tremendous three categories for their diversity efforts including the Everyday Leader Award, Inspirational Woman of the Year and Gender Diversity Ally of the Year.
Winners from the company included Victoria Stark, QAT analyst who received the Everyday Leader Award. She was recognised for what the judges said was “the transformation of internal communications, mentorship and empowerment across the organisation.”
Katherine Leyland, software test engineer at 2i Testing was named as Inspirational Woman of the Year. Judges commented that her story was “deeply inspirational – transitioning from teaching to tech, overcoming personal loss, and leading technical transformation.”
Finally, Dawed Saied, senior customer success manager at 2i Testing took home the Gender Diversity Ally of the Year. He was recognised for championing “women in technology, gender diversity and cultivating a supportive environment for all in both his role at 2i as well at Codespace and Edinburgh College.”
Later in the evening, Katarina Svistseva, founder of The Data Gals, a data and AI recruiter was named not only as Mentor of the Year but also took home Inclusive Recruiter of the Year. Judges noted that she had built a “structured, scalable mentorship programme that has supported 84 women across Scotland and Wales.”
“When setting up mentoring, it’s not just about finding the right people to teach engineering or software development, it’s about finding people who have been in the same shoes as you, who can understand you on a personal level. Being a mentor is not just about getting someone to the next step, but it’s about building that community. The community aspect has really been successful for us,” Svistseva told DIGIT.
The organisation was also celebrated for being built entirely on inclusive recruitment principles. From 50/50 shortlists to removing degree requirements, the organisation has seen placement stats far exceed industry averages in the last 12 months.
“The future of Scotland is brighter, more diverse, and far more interesting because of you,” Jessica Mullen, chief design and innovation officer, CreateFuture, said in her closing remarks. “But we still have work to do.
“I know progress doesn’t just happen, it’s designed, it’s built by people like us in this room.”
Silka Patel, Founder and Chair of Scotland Women in Technology said: “Our winners this year are truly inspirational; bringing fresh perspectives from new sectors, supporting a wealth of peers across the UK, and creating supportive environments for diversity to flourish.
“With over 300 award nominations to just 10 winners, our judges commented how difficult it was to whittle down such high calibre entries.
“What is clear, however, is that Scotland is leading the way in Diversity, Equality and Inclusion; and championing this across the spectrum is part of the DNA for many organisations based in the country. Congratulations to each of our winners and finalists this evening.”
The full list of winners for the SWiT Awards 2025 are below:
Category
Name
Role
Organisation
Rising Star Award
Sponsored by Arnold Clark
Sonja Jillich
Associate Software Engineer
JPMorganChase
Career Changer of the Year
Sponsored by FanDuel
Tracey Aitken
Co-founder
HairTracker
Mentor of the Year
Sponsored by Harvey Nash
Katarina Svistseva
Founder
The Data Gals
Gender Diversity Initiative of the Year
Sponsored by 2i Testing
Stellar Elevate Programme, Stellar Omada
Inclusive Recruiter of the Year
Sponsored by Hymans Robertson
The Data Gals
Everyday Leader Award
Sponsored by NatWest
Victoria Stark
QAT Analyst
2i Testing
Unsung Hero Award
Sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group
Julia Newell
Director and Co-founder
BA Life / IIBA Scotland
Inspirational Woman of the Year
Sponsored by Wheatley Group
Katherine Leyland
Software Test Engineer
2i Testing
Gender Diversity Ally of the Year
Sponsored by Avaloq
Dawed Saied
Senior Customer Success Manager
2i Testing
Judges Choice
Sponsored by Morgan Stanley
Sarah Burne James
Client Adoption Specialist
IBM
The SWiT awards headline sponsor this year was JP Morgan Chase, with CreateFuture serving as the Gold Sponsor for the event.
As the UK government continues to race toward it’s AI ambitions, a lack of data maturity may be holding it back from moving forward in its AI strategy.
An analysis of government procurement spend on IT projects, including AI, has revealed a 72% surge since 2018, with the volume of AI-specific contracts also up over 1,000%. However, experts warn a lack of data readiness threatens to derail the UK’s ambitions to lead in AI.
The Bridging the Government Data Divide report from data and AI leader SAS, and public-procurement specialists Tussell, finds that departments are developing AI capability at pace, but a lack of data readiness is creating a “government data divide” – a term the report defines as the difference between the high-quality, shareable data needed to train and scale AI safely, and the fragmented, inconsistent and often siloed information many departments still rely on.
This year, the UK government has made artificial intelligence a pillar of its AI Opportunities Action Plan, Industrial Strategy and Digital and Technologies Sector Plan. Billions are being committed to make Britain a world leader in responsible, data-driven innovation and AI skills.
The analysis in the report reveals this commitment and spending has been building at pace for some time. Government procurement spend on digital transformation projects has climbed from £11bn in 2018 to £18.9bn in 2024 – a 72% rise. AI contract awards in the same period have also increased by 1,085% including a 64% jump in 2024 alone.
The analysis also broke down departmental spend. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) leads all departments in digital investment, spending £1.45bn in 2024 – almost £450mn more than the Home Office (£1.01bn) and the Department for Transport (£998mn).
The Department for Work and Pensions (£976mn) and Defra (£499mn) follow, alongside major buyers such as the Metropolitan Police Service (£451mn), Department for Education (£429mn) and HM Treasury (£305mn).
Though the data demonstrates the ambition of successive governments to secure the UK’s place as a world leader in the use of AI, the report warns that investment alone will not determine the success of its plans. The greatest challenge now lies beneath, in the quality, accessibility and consistency of the data that powers AI systems.
“AI adoption in government is gaining real momentum,” said Dr Iain Brown, Head of AI & Data Science at SAS Northern Europe; “But our analysis shows that data quality and access remain the biggest barriers to scaling successfully – which puts the government at risk of a growing data divide.
“To deliver AI at a national scale, data must be treated as critical digital infrastructure: planned, governed and maintained with the same rigour as physical assets like transport or energy. Without it, our report suggests, billions in AI investment risk becoming a collection of pilots rather than a platform for service-wide progress that will benefit UK citizens.”
To build this infrastructure, SAS and Tussell’s analysis says there is a need for better data-sharing frameworks, higher-quality records and the safe creation of new, shareable datasets. One practical option is synthetic data, algorithmically generated information that mirrors the structure and statistical value of real data without exposing personal or classified details.
“Digital transformation is essential to reforming public services,” says Gus Tugendhat, founder of Tussell. “The strong rise in IT procurement spend since 2018 shows that successive governments get this and are investing accordingly.
“As this report demonstrates, however, a ‘government data divide’ is still an obstacle in the way of promoting much greater use of AI. Adoption of synthetic data would help to bridge this divide by enabling public sector teams to test, share and scale AI more safely. With clear AI governance and stronger data literacy, the UK government can seize the opportunities of AI to make public services work better for citizens.”
By also providing the first quantitative picture of how digital and AI capability varies across departments, the Bridging the Government Data Divide report offers a roadmap for action, showing where stronger data infrastructure and governance reform can have the greatest impact.
Dr Iain Brown adds; “As the government delivers on its AI and digital strategies, addressing the data divide will be critical to realising the UK’s vision for trusted, citizen-focused AI. Synthetic data as part of the approach gives the government a practical, safe way to accelerate that progress and ensure that public trust in the technology grows alongside public-sector innovation.”
Ofcom has partnered with other telecoms providers from the Five Eyes – the intelligence alliance of the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – to collaborate more closely to strengthen the security and resilience of telecoms networks and tackle consumer-facing risks from scams and fraud.
A joint statement agreed at a meeting of international partners hosted by Ofcom in London on 4-6 November, reflects the fact that telecoms security threats are global and markets are increasingly interconnected.
It commits the authorities – which include telecoms regulators from the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – to strengthen cooperation to address challenges in the telecoms sector, to help deter malicious actors and safeguard the integrity of communications infrastructure.
The Five Eyes have committed to enhance cooperation on network reliability, integrity, and security. This will include efforts to prevent the misuse of telecoms, such as Global Titles, while recognising different international contexts.
Information sharing on emerging threats and fraud techniques is also a key priority in the agreement, which will focus on threats like SMS blasters, an the risks and opportunities arising from the growing use of AI in telecoms.
The agreement will also see members focusing on promoting best practices in network defence. This can be through cooperation and signposting to international standards, such as those related to Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs), which are dedicated computing arrangements set up for work that requires high levels of security, where appropriate.
It will also include more collaboration on supply chain security, including subsea cable infrastructureand radio frequency devices where appropriate.
The involved organisations, which include Ofcom (UK); the Federal Communications Commission (US); Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (Canada); the Department of Home Affairs (Australia); and the National Cyber Security Centre (New Zealand), will begin to work on these commitments immediately, and have also committed to convene annually to continue their focus on telecoms security.
UK scale-ups are failing to adequately prioritise board-level gender diversity, according to a new study from global growth consultancy Think & Grow.
The research shows that while 94% of UK board members believe that it is essential to have a diverse mix of people on a company board, women hold just 18% of board roles across the UK’s fastest growing technology scale-ups. Additionally, more than a third (36%) of these companies have no board-level female representation at all.
The findings highlight a disconnect between how companies within the UK’s fast-growing tech ecosystem think about diversity, and how they put this into practice. These findings are taken from Think & Grow’s latest report, published this week, Breaking and Remaking the Next Generation of High-impact Boards.
Board-level gender diversity at UK scale-ups and start-ups is significantly lower than at listed technology firms – women make up 41% of all board directors across FTSE 350 tech companies, more than double the level seen inside early-stage businesses.
Larger listed organisations must adhere to FCA diversity and inclusion rules that require a minimum of 40% female representation on boards. This points to an ecosystem where government or agency initiatives or recommendations play an important role in supporting diversity and highlights the need for scale-ups to be more proactive in boosting diversity.
Lack of female representation in senior leadership roles
Women also hold few senior leadership positions on the boards of the UK’s fastest-growing technology scale-ups, just 12% of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies have a female CEO, founder, or co-founder, and the same proportion have a female chair.
While these figures are identical across the largest FTSE 350 technology firms, where 12% have female CEOs and 12% have female chairs, larger companies have appointed more women to other senior positions.
For example, at 72% of these firms, women serve in senior board roles such as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer or Senior Independent Director. Overall, women hold less than a third (28%) of senior board roles (CEO, chair, COO, CFO, senior independent director) at these listed companies, but 80% have appointed at least one woman to a top leadership position.
Diversity and performance
The findings also indicate that UK early-stage businesses may be missing out on improved performance through failing to prioritise board-level diversity.
Over a third (35%) of board members or senior decision makers at UK technology firms believe board diversity improves customer representation, while 32% say it enhances creative problem solving and helps boards identify blind spots. A further 30% highlight its positive impact on company culture.
Beyond this, the data highlights a notable link between gender diversity and financial performance. Among the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies, those with more than £50 million in annual revenue, have an average of 22% female board representation, compared to 15% among those below that threshold.
This pattern holds for larger listed companies: at FTSE 350 technology firms with more than £500 million in revenue, for example, gender diversity stands at 42%, versus 37% at firms with revenue below this level.
There are early signs of progress in terms of gender diversity among UK tech scale-ups and start-ups.
At scale-ups founded within the last five years, on average women hold a quarter (25%) of board positions, compared to just 10% among those founded more than five years ago. This suggests that diversity is more of a focus for the next generation of companies.
This aligns with the views of board members and senior decision makers at UK technology firms, 93% of whom believe tangible progress has been made on gender diversity within the last five years.
“There is a clear correlation between diverse boards and strong corporate performance – yet many UK tech companies are failing to appoint board members with diverse backgrounds and expertise which risks curbing growth,” Jonathan Jeffries, CEO and co-founder of Think & Grow said.
“Most senior decision makers at UK tech companies recognise the importance of board-level diversity but many scale-up companies are failing to leverage the opportunities this brings. Enhancing diversity is not just a social responsibility for organisations, it’s a strategic advantage which can improve problem solving, reduce risk and bring in new perspectives to help identify challenges and opportunities to gain a competitive edge.
“Successful companies need to think about diversity in corporate governance from day one, the founders who prioritise inclusion early can build boards that see around corners, solve problems faster, and understand a broader range of markets and people.”
Economic secretary to the HM Treasury Lucy Rigby has penned a letter to the Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC) requesting it to research how AI and other emerging technologies can bolster the finance sector.
FSSC chair Mark Hoban and chief executive Claire Tunley are tasked with researching how AI and other technologies are impacting the finance sector, and how the industry can keep pace in an ever evolving landscape.
The scope of the research should consider the next five to ten years, a broad time range considering the AI revolution that accelerated in just the past three years, focusing on business practices, workforce, and skills impact.
The resulting report will need to assess the impact of AI and other disruptive technologies on the financial sector’s growth potential and productivity, as well as its affect on customers.
The commission will need to assess the skills the financial services sector will need to successfully adopt and implement new technologies, as well as create a new plan to build these necessary skills.
Further, the commission must create a cost-benefit analysis of any proposed measures.
“The UK’s financial centre has long attracted the brightest and best global talent,” Rigby wrote.
“To continue to attract the right talent and develop the right skills over the coming decade will be fundamental to the government’s aim to ensure the UK is once again the global location of choice for financial services firms to invest, innovate, grow and sell their services throughout the UK and to the world.”
The FSSC will work with the City of London Corporation, TheCityUK, Lloyds Banking Group, and PwC to deliver the analysis, according to the letter.
The economy secretary expects the assessment to be completed in mid 2027, but it may consist of more than one report.
Scotland’s tech industry is entering a transformative phase, according to Eden Scott’s Tech Salary Guide 2025/26, which highlights increasing demand for AI talent, evolving hiring strategies, and a record-breaking influx of venture capital.
The guide reveals that AI-focused roles now command salaries up to 58% higher than comparable positions, with employers increasingly adopting skills-first hiring strategies that prioritise hands-on experience over formal qualifications.
Key roles in demand include AI Engineers, Prompt Engineers, Cloud Architects, and Cybersecurity Analysts.
This talent demand is matched by a surge in investment – venture capital investment in Scotland tripled in Q3 2024, reaching £116.1 million, a 220% increase from the previous quarter.
Tech was a huge winner in this regard, with software and AI startups accounting for nearly a third of all VC deals. Further, new tech incorporations in Scotland rose 26% year-on-year, with 471 new companies launched in Q3 alone.
Scotland’s regional tech hubs are also thriving. Edinburgh and Glasgow continue to lead in fintech, health tech, and public digital services, while Aberdeen is evolving beyond its oil and gas roots to become a centre for energy tech and industrial software innovation.
Peter Dunn, Associate Director of Tech & Digital Recruitment at Eden Scott, said: “Scotland’s tech sector is evolving rapidly. The combination of rising salaries, flexible hiring strategies, and record investment is creating a dynamic environment for growth. Organisations must adopt insight-led approaches to attract and retain top talent.”
The Alan Turing Institute is creating two new tools to help protect the UK’s critical national infrastructure from cyber-attacks as part of its Defence and National Security grand challenge.
The National Cyber Security Centre reported in their latest annual review that cyber threats to the UK are high, with cyber being a “discreet, low-cost, high-impact vector through which threat actors target the UK’s CNI for espionage, ransomware, and disruptive purposes,” the report said.
Stark warnings and high-profile cyber-attacks, such as the fire and power outage in Heathrow substation, have driven research leads at the Turing Institute to develop a new AI-powered antivirus tool for operational technology malware.
The tool, called Smoke and Mirrors, will create virtual OT environments using AI to mimic real systems in an effort to duping malware into revealing its true motivations and behaviour, as the malware would activate itself as it would in a real environment.
Operators of critical national infrastructure could use this tool to check suspicious files without jeopardising real systems, while also allowing them to understand and learn how the malware acts.
The system can isolate malicious or suspicious samples away from important systems, and can also create technical reports explaining how the malware functions, what its targets are, and its motivations.
This not only safely prevents malicious attacks reach critical systems, but can allow operators to learn about malware, identify various system vulnerabilities, understand patterns of attack, and develop better defences.
The Institute is also developing cyber risk benchmarks for critical national infrastructure, driven by AI.
The benchmarks aim to make evaluation frameworks for better comparisons between AI agents, with standardised tasks and performance metrics to test systems against real-life threats.
The Autonomous Cyber Defence Innovation and Research Lab (ACD-IRL) will develop and evaluate Ai agents for offensive and defence cyber tasks.
“A core of our CNI mission is to shift the balance of power towards defenders,” Turing Institute researchers wrote.
“As the threats to UK infrastructure grow in scale and complexity, so too must our responses. By bringing together researchers, government bodies, infrastructure operators and industry partners, we will create a shared space for experimentation and rapid learning.”
Ana Stewart, Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur, has today announced her three priorities to deliver for Scotland’s most ambitious companies.
Calling for a sharper focus on rapidly scaling firms, Stewart will prioritise three main goals.
Firstly, she will focus on fostering closer engagement with founders and the private sector by launching Scotland’s largest annual startup and scaleup survey, as well as working directly with entrepreneurs to shape services around their needs.
Second, she will establish tailored support for scaleups by designing interventions that support scaleups to access new talent, capital, and markets.
Finally, the chief entrepreneur will aim to create better measurements for performance and impact by introducing consistent reporting to track progress, providing a transparent picture of Scotland’s entrepreneurial health.
This builds on progress already delivered this year, including multi-year backing for Scottish EDGE, the launch of Dealroom Scotland, and ongoing investment in implementing Stewart’s Pathways report supporting more women to start and scale businesses.
The priorities were announced at the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference at the University of Strathclyde’s Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow, where Ana Stewart took part in a keynote session with Professor Eleanor Shaw OBE and Sir Tom Hunter.
“Scotland has made real progress towards becoming a first-rate startup nation,” Ana Stewart said.
“That foundation is essential – without a strong pipeline of promising new companies, there can be no scaleups. The next stage is to ensure these firms have the support they need to break through and grow at pace. That is a critical pathway to becoming a leading entrepreneurial economy.
“We have to ‘follow our founders’, supporting them from the spark of a new idea right through to rapid international growth. Scotland has world-class entrepreneurs, and many are the economy’s unsung heroes. We should celebrate and acknowledge their achievements whilst making sure nothing holds them back from growing.
“Our entrepreneurs have the talent and ambition to compete on the world stage. Our job is to remove barriers, connect them with the right support, and make Scotland one of the best HQs to build and scale a business. That is my aspiration.”
Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister, said: “Scotland can be proud of the progress made in recent years in building one of Europe’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial economies. That success is down to the talent and drive of our founders, alongside the support of many partners across the ecosystem.
“Ana Stewart’s plans will take that progress to the next level by focusing on how we help more of our companies to grow. Her emphasis on working closely with founders and listening to their needs is exactly the right approach and the Scottish Government is fully committed to backing her vision.”
Glasgow City Innovation District, the hub for innovation, investment, and enterprise, has released its new strategic plan for the next five years, laying out its goals and plans to boost innovation and startup support in the region.
The innovation district in Scotland’s largest city serves one of the fastest growing tech ecosystems in the UK, according to Dealroom, with a collective enterprise value of over £4 billion.
Following its establishment in 2019, Glasgow has seen its venture capital investment into tech businesses raise by 211%.
“Glasgow City Innovation District has been the catalyst for collaboration, enterprise, and growth, driving real impact for investors, businesses, researchers, and the wider community,” Alisdair Gunn, director, Glasgow City Innovation District, said.
“I am incredibly proud of the progress that has been made to position Glasgow as a global leader in technology and a desirable place to invest and locate.
For the next five years, Glasgow City Innovation District have set out five goals it plans to implement with overarching themes of social innovation, sustainability, and core social values, and associated KPIs to track success.
Goal 1. Innovation, Enterprise, and Investment
The District aims to further develop its position to attract government and private sector investment in a bid to deliver business-focused innovation programmes, and expand support for its Venture Studio programme delivery.
Further, it aims to work with its ecosystem partners to develop a dedicated deep-tech and impact-driven innovation accelerator focussing on business growth.
To achieve these goals, it aims to align its delivery with Glasgow city, Glasgow city region, Scottish and UK innovation policy and strategies to attract funding and venture investment. It also aims to increase the network of active VC investors participating in the ecosystem.
In practical terms, in the next five years the Glasgow City Innovation District aims to support 50 businesses per year and work with 40 partners annually for ecosystem activities.
It also aims to attract £1 million worth of new investment to scale Deep Tech and High Growth businesses, as well as participate on five key strategic innovation policy, industry and committee groups.
Goal 2. Ecosystem Development and Industry Engagement
This goal focuses on fostering deeper collaboration within the ecosystem, and strengthen industry partnerships across sectors and subjects.
This would be accomplished through continued international activity, as well as developing the Innovation District’s industry sector engagement to align to regional, national, and university strengths and priorities.
As far as KPIs, the Districts aims to initiate and deliver five collaborative projects with innovation active partners, and introduce ten new investors to the Innovation District.
Glasgow also aims to engage with four new international innovation focused organisations a year, and engage with ten industry/research organisations to work on their projects as well.
Goal 3. Infrastructure and Placemaking
Glasgow aims to establish the Innovation District as Scotland’s flagship location for startups, scaleups, investors, enterprises, and researchers.
Specifically, the goal is to support the development of the Innovation District’s place offering through its active engagement with the delivery and exploitation of the Charles Huang Advanced Technology & Technology Centre, the development of Broomielaw, TIC East and West proposition and the further development of Tontine and The Social Hub to ensure a mix of incubation, innovation, collaboration, and business spaces.
This goal is encapsulated by the Glasgow City Innovation District’s ‘Live, Work, Play’ ethos, which it plans to enact through a range of local community initiatives. It also plans to extend engagement and delivery to support the growth of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland and Clyde Gateway.
To measure progress, Glasgow plans to support partners deliver two new innovtion, incubation, and community spaces, as well as collaborate with five place-based innovation hubs to support their innovation programme delivery.
It will also use its Fusion Fund to provide a micro-fund to support up to eight community focused projects per year, and support at least one community group located within the district to access external funding each year.
Goal 4. City, Regional, National, and Global Partnerships
Glasgow aims to position itself as a world-leading innovation district via international collaboration, as well as working with local governments of varying levels to attract inward investment to raise its profile at innovation and investment forums, here and abroad.
It aims to develop and deliver a ‘Grow Glasgow’ trade position to promote trade and internationalisation. It also seeks to leverage its membership with varying international bodies to raise Glasgow’s national and international reputation as a global innovation district.
To achieve this, Glasgow seeks to work collaboratively with one international innovation district per year, as well as undertake four national or international ecosystem or knowledge exchange engagements per year.
It also aims to deliver three Venture Studio Challenge programmes with an international investment component.
The Glasgow City Innovation District aims to partner with varying local authorities, universities, colleges, and skills agencies to support the development of key sector workforce programmes.
It also seeks to strengthen the District’s role in Scotland’s national tech incubation programmes to scale the pipeline of innovation driven businesses.
The District will deliver an annual programme of events to provide learning opportunities, and support diverse and inclusive talent pipelines.
It will specifically support the delivery of four district based skills or talent programmes and collaborate with ecosystem partners to develop and deliver three ecosystem events per year.
Further, it will deliver an annual Glasgow City Innovation District conference, as well as continue delivering Glasgow Tech Week each year.
Resources and Implementation
Delivering on these goas will require additional resources, such as long term funding and the development of measurable impact metrics.
Further, the Glasgow City Innovation District aims to ensure appropriate representation across its governance and workstream activities.
While the District aims to leverage its existing partnerships and relationships to support its goals, its strategy acknowledges that adaptation is required to support the growth of innovative businesses in Glasgow amid a changing policy and funding ecosystem.
Trust in AI may be growing, but implementation is still lagging in the UK, according to research from Insight Enterprises.
Over half (57%) of organisations say they are very confident in autonomous AI’s reliability in core business processes, the research found.
Yet, despite this increasing trust, implementation is lagging. The survey unveiled that 6 in 10 organisations are stuck in pilot or experimental phases. Most are deploying AI in low-risk, narrowly defined areas, with only 24% using it in production for clearly scoped use cases.
The UK shows stronger AI maturity than its European peers, with 9% of organisations having fully embedded AI into operations, the highest in the region, and ranking second in scaled deployment. However, the overall level of integration remains low, with most UK businesses (70%) yet to move beyond small-scale pilots.
“While it is encouraging to see that 9% of UK organisations have fully embedded AI into their operations – the highest in Europe – this also underscores the urgent need for companies to move beyond pilot phases,” Santo Orlando, practice director at Insight, said.
“The UK has the potential to lead the way in strategic AI adoption, but realising this potential requires a concerted effort to overcome the operational hurdles that currently impede progress. By embracing AI as a core component of their strategies, and grounding AI in business reality, UK organisations can unlock significant efficiencies and drive innovation.”
Top Barriers to Scaling AI
The research, part of Insight’s EMEA AI Maturity Report, reveals that trust is not the problem — only 1% of IT decision-makers cite a lack of confidence in the technology.
Instead, adoption is being slowed by operational and organisational challenges, such as technology integration issues (36%), and skills gaps for managing AI systems (23%).
Respondents also cited cultural resistance to AI adoption (17%), and governance and compliance framework gaps (14%).
As a result, AI maturity remains limited. Most markets are still navigating early or scaling phases, with just 5% of organisations across Europe reporting that AI is fully embedded into their operations. A further 15% say they’ve scaled AI in production. The vast majority remain in the stages of early exploration, awareness or pilot testing, highlighting a significant gap between confidence and real-world applications.
More than half (52%) of organisations prefer cloud-based AI, with 16% strongly in favour. Yet, 44% still lean toward on-premises solutions, often due to concerns around control, compliance and performance. Balancing cloud and on-premises workloads demands a level of maturity that many enterprises are yet to achieve.
Adrian Gregory, EMEA President at Insight said: “This research captures the general excitement about AI’s transformational potential, but also the challenges in successful implementation. There are limited outcomes from taking a technology led approach and just giving tools to teammates and hoping something will happen. More strategic transformations are often stuck in pilot phases.”
“As the leading AI Solutions Integrator, we believe it starts with business understanding together with AI Forward Deployed Engineers to build rapid working prototypes in a handful of days along with use case priority backlog, a full implementation plan and a business case for ROI.
“Businesses need partners that don’t just offer technical expertise but provide strategic guidance on integration and accountability frameworks to help them implement AI responsibly and effectively. This is even more critical when we consider that only half of respondents reported having clear frameworks.”
Microsoft is teaming up with NVIDIA and WeTransact to support UK startups in their agentic AI ambitions.
The Agentic Launchpad is designed to accelerate the UK’s and Ireland’s AI economy by helping pioneering software companies build intelligent, next-generation AI platforms.
The programme offers startups and scale-ups the opportunity to work with the latest technologies, access to expert guidance, and the potential for global scaling opportunities.
The Launchpad offers participating firms the chance to work directly with Microsoft and Nvidia experts. Firms can receive credits through Microsoft programmes to support their development journey.
The programme will also support startups in marketing, with support to ensure products are ready to go to market, as well as support with media campaigns, executive sponsorships, and brand marketing expertise.
It also provides opportunities for networking, workshops, and events, as well as the chance to promote agentic and AI apps to key stakeholders.
The Agentic Launchpad is open to UK-based software development companies building agentic applications, intelligent systems, or GenAI platforms.
“This is a really exciting opportunity for innovative and ambitious AI-first software companies to accelerate the growth of their agentic AI solutions with the expert help of Microsoft and NVIDIA,” Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK & Ireland, said.
“We are passionate about helping to build the agentic AI future and see innovation flourish in the UK.”
Serge Palaric, Vice President of EMEA Hyperscaler and ISV Alliances at Nvidia, said: “NVIDIA is ready to support the Microsoft Agentic Launchpad through the NVIDIA Inception program for cutting-edge start-ups.
“This collaboration will provide start-ups with access to NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute training sessions and a network of experts. By using NVIDIA AI infrastructure, software companies will be able to accelerate their AI development and enhance performance.”
Interested startups and scaleups can enquire about applying for the programme here.
Organisations that perform audits and assessments of AI system performance and compliance are over three times more likely to achieve high GenAI value than organisations that do not, according to Gartner.
The survey, which was conducted May through June 2025 among 360 respondents and 250 employees across all industries bar IT software in North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific, found that auditing and compliance make all the difference.
“AI governance really is a case of doing well by doing good, but it depends on the specific governance practice. Some just help reduce risk and support legal compliance, while others also boost the value delivered by GenAI initiatives,” said Kjell Carlsson, VP Analyst at Gartner.
Organisations that conduct assessments, provide tailored guidance, develop AI-specific usage policies, implement governance features, and expand GenAI rollouts safely are multiple times more likely to report higher levels of GenAI business value.
Gartner recommends five types of governance practices organisations can focus on to boost GenAI business value.
Conduct regular assessments of AI systems: Leaders should implement assessment and monitoring processes, and deploy AI governance platforms to streamline assessment, auditing, and remediation.
Provide customized guidance and training for AI users: Leaders must provide targeted training to boost the success of GenAI initiatives. Organisations that offer persona and role-based guidance are two times more likely to report higher levels of value, while those that provide GenAI ethics training are 1.7 times more likely.
Implement AI-specific usage policies: Leaders should implement AI policies that both encourage responsible usage and mitigate the major areas of risk.
Invest in governance features and products: Leaders must advocate for additional investment in governance capabilities for their AI tools and systems. Organisations that invest in third-party AI governance products are 1.9 times more likely to report higher levels of value.
Safely expand rollouts of GenAI: Limiting GenAI to low-risk and trusted users is a common, necessary practice, but organisations that can expand their deployments of GenAI beyond these users are 3.3 times more likely to report higher levels of GenAI value.
NHS Scotland has invested more than £3 million in AI technology to defend against ransomware attacks following a major cyber incident that rocked the health service last year.
The national health care provider signed a contract with Computacenter, a IT reseller giant, to supply NHS Scotland with Halcyon software. The £3.1 million deal covers an unspecified length of time.
The new technology have been established by the NHS Cyber Centre for Excellence, which will collaborate to “reduce the risk and impact of cyber-attacks,” according to a commercial notice on the deal.
The new AI tool will work together with the range of cybersecurity tools already in use across the 14 NHS boards in Scotland.
The notice, however, detailed how risks are still prominent.
“While this approach has been successful and adds value, the residual risk is still high due to the nature of ransomware attacks,” it said. “Existing tools by their nature remediate reactively once they detect an attack to contain it, and the risk of data being stolen prior to its encryption is now equal to – if not greater than – the encryption of the data itself.”
NHS Scotland has faced a number of cyber incidents, most prominent of which was the ransomware attack targeting NHS Dumfries and Galloway. All 150,000 citizens of the county were warned by the health board that some of their data may have been compromised as a result of the data breach, and were told to stay vigilant against potential scams.
The new technology is described as a “specialised, AI-driven cybersecurity tool that defends against advanced ransomware attacks and unauthorised access,” which NHS Scotland says complements their existing security suite.
“A lightweight solution, it requires minimal resources to deploy and run on existing devices, making it ideal for preventing attacks like that experienced by NHS Dumfries & Galloway in 2024, and would significantly strengthen our defence-in-depth suite of tools,” the commercial notice said.
OpenAI has signed a new £38 billion deal with Amazon, which will see the tech giant supply the ChatGPT maker with cloud computing services and hundreds of thousands of graphic chip units from Nvidia.
The deal is one of the first OpenAI has made since reconfiguring itself to be partially for profit. While it maintains its relationship with Microsoft, the new business model enables it to make other enterprising deals, and unsurprisingly, everyone wants a piece.
And OpenAI needs the compute power. It will still use Microsoft Azure for some of its cloud computing needs, and also has a deal with Google Cloud. Further, the firm reportedly bough $300bn worth of computing power from Oracle for five years.
The deal with AWS signals a positive trends for the importance of compute power in the age of AI, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman saying the company will spend $1.4 trillion towards the development of 30 gigawatts of computing power.
The new partnership will see OpenAI use AWS’s cloud computing services with immediate affect. All of the planned capacity is set to come online by the end of this year, with room for expansion in 2027.
The chips AWS will deploy will be used to support training OpenAI’s future models as well as powering ChatGPT. OpenAI may also use AWS’s data centres for its agentic AI endeavours.
The deal sent Amazon’s shares up by 5% in premarket trading, and signified a boost of confidence for its cloud computing organisation.
“Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute,” said OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman. “Our partnership with AWS strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone.”
CEO of AWS, Matt Garman, said: “As OpenAI continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible, AWS’s best-in-class infrastructure will serve as a backbone for their AI ambitions. The breadth and immediate availability of optimized compute demonstrates why AWS is uniquely positioned to support OpenAI’s vast AI workloads.”
The UK government has partnered with the rest of the G7 and Australia to boost quantum technology development.
The agreement – NMI-Q – will see international institutes focused on metrology, the study of measurements, work together to centralise measurements and develop standards of quantum computers.
The US and the UK will co-chair the first term of the NMI-agreement, which was announced by Science Minister Lord Vallance at the National Physical Laboratory.
“The UK is setting the pace for the development of engineering biology and quantum technologies,” Lord Vallance said at the opening of the Reference Biofundry, a government-funded facility research in the life sciences.
“Our new, cutting-edge Reference Biofoundry and strong global partnerships will fast-track innovators’ ideas onto the market to boost our economy. It will bring in the private investment that their ideas will attract.
“We need initiatives like these to drive excellence and international standards that ensure technological progress continues, from quantum medical scanners for hospitals to engineering biology giving us new ways of recycling.
“By investing in this vital infrastructure, the UK will continue to lead in innovation that we all benefit from.”
Earlier in October, the G7 and Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the NMI-Q, with the goal of enabling responsive and innovative approaches to standardisation.
Scotland has a longstanding reputation for punching above its weight when it comes to science and engineering – supported not only by our world-class academic institutions, but also a strong ecosystem of spin-outs and start-ups. This is particularly true in ‘deep tech’, with a number of success stories in recent years going on to achieve global success.
Yet, with so much economic uncertainty this year we have unfortunately seen a number of high-growth potential companies in Scottish deep tech fall into administration. Perhaps the highest-profile example being M Squared Lasers, a Glasgow-based photonics company, which was a genuine world leader in its field.
It’s easy for setbacks like these to dampen sentiment towards an industry that many believe will be an important part of Scotland’s future – not least the government, which is prioritising high-end manufacturing and innovation. Nevertheless, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future of Scottish deep tech and what its potential contribution to our economy is.
First, it’s worth defining what exactly deep tech entails. Essentially, it covers a broad spectrum of technologies born from advanced research, science, and engineering, addressing and solving complex problems across many sectors. What makes it so exciting is the sheer scale of innovation: game-changing technologies that have the potential to reshape the way we live.
From advancements in sensor technology that support human health, to robotics streamlining supply chains and satellites delivering essential imagery and data, deep tech spans a wide range of technologies that shape our everyday lives. But, it’s not an industry that receives a huge amount of attention – partially because, as a consumer, you often don’t often see or realise when you are directly interacting with the products.
Crucially, though, deep tech is a long-term and often risky journey. Unlike other industries where success is measured by rapid customer growth, progress is defined differently. It requires significant investment in research and development, and the achievement of technical milestones, securing patents, or obtaining regulatory approvals. These steps can take a long time, but each one is essential in turning breakthrough innovations into solutions that can shape the future – and, when it works, the outcomes can be truly transformative.
Scotland’s opportunity
With Scotland’s rich industrial heritage, deep tech is one of the natural successors that builds on our core strengths. While figures for Scotland alone are difficult to come by, according to the Royal Academy of Engineering’s State of UK Deep Tech report, the sector now attracts more than £5 billion of annual venture capital across the UK.
With that, each year we are seeing more companies scale successfully while new ventures spin out of universities such as Edinburgh, Strathclyde, and Heriot-Watt, driving progress in areas including semiconductors, biotechnology, quantum technologies, advanced sensors, and photonics. Together, they’re redefining our innovation landscape and underpin high-growth global markets for Scotland such as subsea systems, medical technologies, and space.
The recent launch of the Deep Tech Supercluster programme is also a highly encouraging support mechanism for all of this. Backed by Scottish Enterprise, the National Robotarium, the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), and the Smart Things Accelerator Centre (STAC), this pilot initiative represents a significant step in supporting, scaling, and showcasing some of Scotland’s most innovative deep tech organisations.
By accelerating the journey from research to market, it has the potential to drive transformative innovation. Like any pilot initiative – particularly in an area like deep tech – there will inevitably be challenges along the way. However, with strong support from government agencies, universities, and private sector partners, this programme has the potential to generate real momentum in strengthening and expanding Scotland’s deep tech ecosystem.
Funding is often cited as one of the biggest challenges for deep tech in Scotland – and that is absolutely true. It is well known that the sector attracts much less funding than its equivalents in the Golden Triangle between London, Oxford, and Cambridge, as well as in Europe. And there is plenty of work that needs to be done to address that gap.
But, less talked about is the importance of attracting the right talent, which isn’t just valuable – it’s essential. I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with industry-leading experts, from pioneers in quantum technologies to structural specialists designing the next generation of launch vehicles that deliver satellites into orbit. What consistently stands out about these individuals is not only their technical excellence, but also their passion, determination, and commitment to using their expertise to create a positive impact.
If Scotland is to realise the potential that its deep tech sector offers, we need a strong pipeline of skilled individuals who can drive its success. Scotland is fortunate to have a wealth of exceptional homegrown talent, but it is equally important to attract expertise from beyond our borders. By bringing the very best minds to Scotland, we can ensure these companies create pioneering products with real, global impact.
But, across the continent, there is so much competition for the right talent. Senior executives in these areas have options – they need to know the opportunity is right, there is an ecosystem to work within, and the technology can deliver on the world stage. We have all those ingredients in Scotland, but we need to start telling a more compelling story about what we have to offer.
Building momentum
We can’t let the challenges of recent months obscure the fact that deep tech is a huge opportunity for Scotland. The sale of Reactec to Ideagen earlier this year – and, going further back, Intel’s purchase of Optoscribe and Broadcom’s acquisition of Pyreos – demonstrates a track record of developing technologies global companies are interested in. The likes of Novosound, iGii, Sunamp, Pure Lifi, Sofant Technologies, and Orbex are continuing that today.
Scotland’s deep tech ecosystem holds tremendous potential. The sector has already made impressive strides, with innovative companies emerging across a range of technologies and established organisations continuing to grow, raise investment, and scale their impact. Now it’s time to start telling that story with greater confidence, helping to attract more funding and the right talent that can bring forward new technologies with the power to transform markets.
Transport systems will depend increasingly on digital twins to function and to advance decarbonisation, researchers have suggested.
Digital twins are virtual replicas of the physical world that are already being widely used across the transport sector for functions including predictive maintenance, fleet management, route planning and product design.
In a report for UK research hub TransiT, researchers predict that transport systems will become “increasingly reliant” on digital twins for their operation.
The report, Twinning for Decarbonisation: Internet of Things Enablement for Transport Digital Twins, also highlights the “significant positive impact” digital twins can have on decarbonisation efforts, helping to reduce emissions and promote sustainability.
But many challenges remain to the widescale adoption of digital twinning technologies, including data security and storage, common standards, cost and developing digital twinning skills and culture in the workforce.
The report was commissioned by TransiT, the UK’s largest research hub dedicated to rapidly decarbonising transport using digital twins, and compiled by CENSIS, Scotland’s Innovation Centre for sensing, imaging and Internet of Things technologies.
Professor David Flynn, the Joint Programme Lead of TransiT, said: “Decarbonising transport is hard, because it requires changing whole systems – vehicles, infrastructure, energy supply, business models and user behaviour – all of which have been built around fossil fuels for decades. The transition is costly and uncertain.
“And progress in one area, for example, vehicles, only works if the other areas – like grid capacity, charging networks and planning rules – move in step.
“Digital twinning can help address these challenges by allowing us to explore the ‘big picture’ and enabling stakeholders to explore alternative pathways towards decarbonisation.
“With digital twins, we can explore ‘what-if’ futures safely, and coordinate investment and policy decisions before spending real money or locking in the wrong solutions. They help identify the most cost-effective pathways, reduce risk, and align infrastructure roll-out with real operational demand, speeding up delivery of low-carbon transport systems.”
The report found that digital twinning can aid organisations in mapping their decarbonisation programmes an their impact, for maximum efficiency.
However, researchers also noted some risk and barriers to implementing digital twins at scale. Data security is key in keeping these systems safe and secure, and also presents a risks.
Further, organisations should do appropriate cost benefit analysis as digital twins can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds when created at scale.
Still, these projects can create return on investment while ensuring decarbonisation goals are met.
“The potential of digital twins in the transport sector is immense,” Natalia Lukaszewicz, lead author of the CENSIS report said.
“They can play a crucial role in reducing transport’s environmental impact, for example by identifying fuel consumption savings or transport planning improvements. But industry-wide action is needed to unlock this potential.
“This includes agreeing cybersecurity frameworks and common standards, developing strong business cases for digital twins, including financial assessments, and understanding the impact of digital twins on an organisation’s skills and culture.”
UK retail firms are losing as much as £86bn due to negative customer service experiences with AI, new research has found.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) investigated on behalf of Trustpilot how retail firms have been affected by negative reviews caused by AI offerings in the past year.
Poor interactions with AI, ranging from chatbot mishaps to incorrect or uninformative product summaries, has led to a loss of £4.9bn in transactions.
Further, a survey of customers found that two-thirds lessened their use of a firm after experiencing a negative interaction with AI. Customers also share negative AI experiences with around two other people, on average, which can stop other customers from using their services.
It also damages a business’s reputation – CEBR found that £3.7bn was lost from the reputational fallout of negative AI experiences.
“AI tools are making it easier than ever for consumers to discover, research and buy new products and services,” chief strategy officer at Trustpilot, Carrie Ryan, said.
“But as our research shows, they can just as easily turn people away. In an AI-powered world, trust is the currency that powers every transaction.
“It is vital that businesses invest the time and energy now in getting AI experiences right, using quality data sources and thoughtful design to build trust and reliability in the entire shopping experience.”
Customers have so far been giving mixed signals when it comes to AI in service desk applications, with many disparaging their disappointing interactions with chatbots, while others think AI could be the solution to long wait times and slow solutions.
According to the analysis by Barclays Eagle Labs and Beauhurst the number of active UK companies has risen to 5.48 million – a 0.43%increase from the previous quarter.
An estimated 1.05 million of these companies are operating within the key IS8 sectors, meaning almost a fifth (19.2%) of all UK corporations are aligned with this key long-term focus area for the government.
The UK’s IS8 sectors – Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy, Creative Industries, Digital & Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences, Professional & Business Services, and Defence – remain a priority to boost national growth, productivity and innovation.
In Q3 2025, these sectors collectively attracted £3.90bn in equity Investment, led by Digital and Technology (£2.37bn), Professional and Business Services (£1.24bn), and Financial Services (£986m). Together, these sectors accounted for almost half (47.7%) of total UK equity investment activity this quarter.
Key IS8 sector equity investment by region, Q3 2025
Region
Digital & Technology
Professional & Business Services
Financial Services
London
£1.77b
£843m
£854m
South East
£77.8m
£101m
£50.1m
North West
£95.5m
£11.2m
£35.5m
West Midlands
£142m
£107m
£13.3m
East of England
£128m
£58.8m
£10.6m
Yorkshire & Humber
£13.2m
£7.23m
£8.60m
East Midlands
£4.69m
£3.58m
£1.62m
South West
£95.6m
£90.9m
£12.3m
Scotland
£36.5m
£5.84m
–
Wales
£2.72m
£3.21m
–
North East
£4.72m
£5.62m
£40.0k
Northern Ireland
£4.67m
£7.69m
£285k
UK Total
£2.37b
£1.24b
£986m
Scotland leads regional investment outside of London
Equity investment across the UK rose sharply in Q3 2025, increasing 78.4% to £5.89bn. This marks a significant increase following a slower first half of the year and indicates a steady increase in investor confidence.
The Digital and Technology sector remained the largest single driver of equity investment, attracting £2.37bn via 628 deals, with nearly half (47.5%) at the seed stage. Advanced Manufacturing, though smaller in company numbers, recorded the highest average sum raised per company, including two large deals in automotive and advanced manufacturing.
Scotland stood out for its growth in equity investment, rising almost tenfold (675%) to £507m.
This was dominated by a single transaction by Fidra Energy, which raised £445m to deliver the Thorpe Marsh Battery Energy Storage System. Scotland also led the UK in Clean Energy investment, with £450m invested into clean energy companies, followed by London with £121m. This surge highlights Scotland’s growing role in the UK’s energy transition and its ability to attract large-scale capital for innovative projects.
Scotland is also the largest hub for university spinouts outside of the Golden Triangle (Cambridge, London and Oxford), with 339 spinouts recorded in Q3 2025, demonstrating its strength in translating research and innovation into high-growth businesses.
While Defence remains a smaller sector by company count, it continues to attract targeted equity investment, particularly in regions with strong Advanced Manufacturing and Technology clusters. London (£65m), West Midlands (£35m), and South East (£4.3m) all recorded notable Defence equity investment alongside significant activity in Advanced Manufacturing and Digital Technologies.
“The government has set out a clear vision by identifying the IS8 sectors as priorities for UK growth. While our latest Regional Investment Map shows almost a fifth of all companies now operating in Industrial Strategy sectors, there is also sustained growth and investment in sectors across the board,” Abdul Qureshi, MD, Business Banking at Barclays said.
“The increase in equity investment, especially in Digital, Professional Services, and Clean Energy, demonstrates the UK’s appeal to investors and its capacity for innovation-led growth. Scotland’s performance is particularly impressive, underlining the importance of growth across all pockets of the UK in driving national progress.”
Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said: “The UK is a top investment destination, and this data shows the power of government and industry working together to drive economic growth into every part of the country, creating jobs and new opportunities for people as part of our Plan for Change.
“Unleashing the full potential of the UK’s nations and regions is at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy, and we’re providing investors the stability and confidence they need to plan not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and beyond.”
As the deadline for mandatory UK identity verification under the UK’s Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) approaches in just under three weeks, a new global pulse survey by Vistra, finds that many international firms remain worryingly unprepared.
According to the survey of 100 company directors at international firms operating in the UK, 52% admit their organisations are not yet compliant with the new identity verification requirements, despite the mandatory regime beginning on 18 November.
Companies House data suggests actual compliance may be even lower, with around 800,000 of the estimated 7 million required individuals having completed the process.
Organisations that have not verified their directors before the due date of their next confirmation statement or PSCs when needed during the following 12 months will be exposed to significant fines and reputational damage.
The ECCTA mandates that all directors, Persons with Significant Control (PSCs), LLP members and anyone filing on behalf of a company must verify their identity with Companies House.
Yet, only 56% of directors surveyed are confident they have correctly identified all PSCs within their organisations. Failure to properly identify or verify PSCs can result in severe penalties, including fines, bans on document filing, and even disqualification from the Companies House register.
Awareness of the new regulations remains an issue, with nearly one in three respondents still unaware of the ECCTA’s requirements or deadlines. Given that it’s the most significant reform to corporate transparency in the UK since the inception of Companies House in 1844, this knowledge gap is cause for concern.
Identity verification is not the only compliance hurdle companies are facing. Just 53% of respondents whose companies meet the Failure to Prevent Fraud offence criteria believe they are compliant, despite it having come into force on 1 September 2025.
This offence applies to companies meeting two of the following three criteria – annual turnover over £36 million, assets above £18 million, and more than 250 employees – and non-compliance risks unlimited fines.
Despite the UK’s reputation as a global leader in corporate governance, being widely recognised for its comprehensive and progressive corporate governance code as well as its influence on international standards, the survey shows that UK-based firms are the least prepared globally.
Only 72% of UK directors surveyed were aware of the ECCTA, compared to 76% in the EU, 90% in APAC, and a full 100% in the US. Compliance rates for both identity verification (38%) and the Failure to Prevent Fraud offence (44%) were also lowest among UK respondents. By contrast, US respondents lead with compliance rates of 65% and 71%, respectively.
This mirrors the level of concern. Only 59% of UK respondents surveyed are worried about penalties, operational disruption, or reputational harm from non-compliance, far lower than the 100% in the US, 85% in APAC, and 75% globally.
Even though UK firms lag behind, the ECCTA’s rigorous standards are bolstering the UK’s global benchmark in corporate governance.
Two-thirds of global directors surveyed indicated they are now more likely to approve the establishment of new UK subsidiaries or entities due to the ECCTA’s new verification requirement, reinforcing the country’s reputation as a safe and transparent market for investment.
“With the rollout of mandatory identity verification beginning just weeks away, firms should not wait until their next confirmation statement to prepare. Companies House data shows that fewer than one in five of those required to verify have done so, and early action will be critical in avoiding disruption and potential backlogs once verification becomes a legal requirement,” Meg Ogunsola, Global Director of Entity Management Solutions at Vistra, said.
“Companies House has made clear it will take a hard line on non-compliance and is already cracking down on fake directors. Firms that wait could face backlogs, enforcement action and lasting damage to stakeholder confidence.
“Global organisations should also note that Companies House’s direct verification process does not support non-biometric passports, underlining the need to move quickly and explore alternative routes, like working with Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSPs). Firms must act now or risk significant consequences.”
Chrome will now attempt all web platform connections over HTTPS as Google moves to make its browser secure by default.
The new rules will come into effect with Chrome 154, which will be released in October 2026, which will see the browser automatically use the Always Use Secure Connections feature.
The browser will ask for confirmation from a user to visit any public site that does not support HTTPS prior to visiting the webpage.
Despite more and more platforms turning to HTTPS, some websites still use HTTP, which potentially exposes the sites to malicious actors and content.
Driving the change is some of Chrome’s own research into the uptick of encrypted browsing.
Google’s HTTPS Transparency Report revealed that in 2020, 94-99% of Chrome traffic used HTTPS, up from just 30-45% in 2015.
However, after 2020, HTTPS adoption appears to have slumped, with a few holdouts creating security issues.
Further, HTTPS is less prevalent on sites accessed on mobile devices, which can be problematic as web traffic from mobile browsers increases.
Google did admit that many technical and political challenges stand in the way of all platforms achieving full encryption.
Certain countries and regions degrade or even block HTTPS traffic, while some companies and organisations lack the technical resources required to implement HTTPS.
The rollout will see Chrome warning users upon visits to new or rarely visited pages that do not employ HTTPS, and will aim to avoid prompting users when they enter sites they often visit.
The rollout will begin initially in April 2026, where Chrome 147 will enable the feature for users already using Enhanced Safe Browsing, which includes over a billion people. Then in October 2026, the feature will be rolled out to all users via Chrome 154.
The warnings will apply to public websites and will exclude internal addresses – these typically carry less risk, and are more difficult to secure with encryption.
In early experimentation, Google found that less than 3% of traffic prompted a warning, with more users issued less than one warning a week.
“In the future, we hope to work to further reduce barriers to the adoption of HTTPS, especially for local network sites. This work will hopefully enable even more robust HTTP protections down the road,” the Chrome team said.
About seven in ten (69%) of UK organisations say the security risks for their company has never been higher.
This is according to Vanta’s third annual State of Trust Report, an in-depth analysis uncovering trends in AI, security, compliance, and trust from a survey of 3,500 IT and business leaders across the UK, US, France, Germany, and Australia.
As AI-driven cyber threats proliferate, organisations admit they can’t keep up, with a majority (53%) of business and IT leaders warning that AI cyber threats are advancing faster than their security team’s expertise to deal with them. In the past year, half of all organisations reported an increase in AI-generated phishing (43%), AI-powered malware (44%), and AI-driven identity theft or fraud (43%).
On the other hand, companies leveraging AI agents to protect against AI-cyber attacks is increasing sharply, with 8 in 10 leaders currently using AI agents or planning to this year. However, AI usage doesn’t match the understanding of the technology—particularly when it comes to agents with nearly two-thirds (61%) saying their use of agentic AI outpaces their understanding of it.
Agentic AI adoption is high, but control is low
To combat the surge of new attack vectors, security teams are trusting agentic AI with everything from decision making to security strategy.
But a lack of governance threatens to do more harm than good, as 80% of leaders are currently or planning to use AI agents to protect against AI-cyber attacks.
Over half (58%) say they trust agentic AI to override human decision-making in certain scenarios, like suspending a risky browser extension or session when a policy violation is detected.
While 71% of teams feel comfortable with agentic AI giving input on security strategy, AI usage does not match understanding, with nearly two-thirds (61%) saying their use of agentic AI outpaces their grasp of it.
Further, fewer than half (46%) have any framework in place to manage agentic AI use.
Security theatre is getting in the way of real protection
The security paradox of AI means that as customers demand more proof of security, many teams are spending more time proving security, rather than improving it.
While 8 in 10 believe improving security and compliance directly boosts customer trust, leaders say their organisations only spend half of what they should on security—dedicating 10% of IT budgets to security vs a 16% ideal. This amounts to 12 working weeks per year spent on compliance related tasks (vs 10 last year), and 9 working weeks per year on vendor security reviews and risk assessments.
As a result, 56% say they spend more time proving security rather than improving it, with 63% saying today’s security frameworks feel like ‘security theatre’.
AI banishes cybersecurity team burnout
Amid growing compliance pressure, AI is both a relief valve and a reinvention tool. It’s helping overburdened teams do more with less, automating manual tasks and freeing up time for meaningful security work.
Nearly eight in ten (78%) of security and compliance leaders say AI and automation tools are reducing burnout and improving day-to-day productivity.
Almost all (96%) believe AI and automation have improved security team effectiveness, with half saying that risk assessments and incident response times are faster and more accurate with AI.
“AI has completely changed the security equation,’’ said Jeremy Epling, Chief Product Officer, Vanta.
“It’s creating new risks at unprecedented speed, but it’s also one of the most powerful tools we have to strengthen defences and limit burnout for overworked security teams. The challenge now is balance—adopting AI in ways that enhance security without losing control or visibility. As evident in the State of Trust data, to really build lasting trust, we need frameworks to help ensure AI is reliable, secure, and verifiable in how it makes decisions.”
The UK government is providing inventors and innovators with a £55 billion funding boost to research and development to drive growth and improve our daily lives.
The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology has confirmed long-term R&D funding for the UK’s research agencies and bodies, with bumper investment for the bodies that are making science and tech breakthroughs.
These allocations aim to give visibility and clarity on the development of DSIT’s plans for R&D budgets, with the Department’s overall R&D budget growing in real terms.
New analysis from the UK government shows the value of public investment in R&D to the UK – with every £1 spent delivering £8 in net economic benefits over the long-term. Crowding in private investment is a key part of this, with every £1 of public money invested in R&D crowding in a further £2 in private investment, on average.
In the 6 years after receiving their first R&D grant funding, employment increases in the average business by 21% and turnover grows by 23% relative to similar firms who didn’t get support. Some of the UK’s most innovative businesses have had public R&D funding help springboard them to success.
“Backing our best and brightest researchers and innovators is essential. They are making the impossible, possible, from health to clean energy and beyond. Their ideas will create tomorrow’s industries, boosting growth and transforming public services now and in the future,” Liz Kendall, science and technology secretary, said.
“By investing in their work, we are backing the long-term success of the UK, by paving the way for breakthroughs that will help us all to live and work better.”
The funding confirmed this round, which covers the Spending Review period ending in 2026/2030, includes:
UKRI, the UK’s national funding agency for science and research, will deliver more than £38 billion across the period, including nearly £10 billion in 2029/2030 alone
The budget for ARIA – the UK’s agency backing bold, long-term breakthroughs – to rise from £220 million a year to £400 million a year by 2029/2030. One area that ARIA is supporting, is how robots could potentially help meet the growing need for adult social care
Over £1.4 billion total backing for the Met Office, to keep the UK at the forefront of climate science
Over £900 million total backing for the UK’s prestigious National Academies
Over £550 million for the National Measurement System, and £240 million for the AI Security Institute
All these allocations will support vital investment in universities, research institutes, and businesses across the UK
Chatacter.AI, the AI chat bot firm, is banning under 18s from certain features after serious criticisms and lawsuits against the firm for its affect on teenagers’ psyche and mental health.
The AI firm allows users to create fictional AI characters that they can chat with, create content with, and chat with other AI characters. Characters can be based on real people, existing fictional characters, or can be user generated.
With the new rules, from 25 November, teenagers will no longer be able to talk to characters, but can still create video content with AI characters on the site.
Between now and then, Chatacter.AI says it will work to “build an under-18 experience that still gives our teen users ways to be creative…” Chats or under 18s will also be limited rather than open-ended.
Prior to the rule change, Chatacter.AI faces a number of lawsuits in the US from concerned parents, including parents of a teenager who committed suicide after having conversations for months with an AI character on the platform.
Following the death of the 14-year-old and the lawsuit from his mother, Character.AI introduced Parental Insights, which provided guardians more insight into how their children are using the platform.
However, added pressure from children’s rights groups and internet safety advocates, as well as threats of regulatory scrutiny, has primed the firm to take further action to protect teens.
The firm will introduce user age detection, which it developed in house and will combine with Persona, a third-party firm.
Character.AI will also create an AI safety lab to research how forms of AI entertainment can be safe.
“We’re making these changes to our under-18 platform in light of the evolving landscape around AI and teens,” Chatacter.AI said.
“We have seen recent news reports raising questions, and have received questions from regulators, about the content teens may encounter when chatting with AI and about how open-ended AI chat in general might affect teens, even when content controls work perfectly.”
An AI ‘governance gap’ is emerging as businesses pour money into AI tools and products without oversight or protective processes in place, the British Standards Institute (BSI) warns.
While business leaders are chasing productivity boosts and cost reductions by investing large sums in AI, new evidence suggests many are sleepwalking toward significant governance failures, BSI research found.
The Institute’s global study, combining an AI-assisted analysis of over 100 annual reports from multinationals and two global polls of over 850 senior business leaders, conducted six months apart, offers a comprehensive view of how AI is publicly framed in communications, alongside executive-level insights into its implementation..
What is a governance gap?
About three in five (62%) business leaders expect to increase AI investment in the next year, with the majority citing boosting productivity and efficiency (61%) as their main motivator, with half (49%) focused on reducing cost.
A majority (59%) now consider AI to be crucial to their organisation’s growth, highlighting the integral role executives see AI playing in the future success of their businesses.
Highlighting the striking absence of safeguards, less than a quarter (24%) reported that their organisation has an AI governance programme, although this rose modestly to just over a third (34%) in large enterprise, a pattern repeated across the research.
While nearly half (47%) say AI use is controlled by formal processes (up from 15% in February 2025), only a third (34%) report using voluntary codes of practice (up from 19%). Only a quarter (24%) say employee use of AI tools is monitored, and only 30% have processes to assess the risks introduced by AI and the required mitigations. Just one in five businesses (22%) restrict employees from using unauthorised AI.
The AI-assisted analysis reinforced this emerging governance gap and also identified a second, geographical one. Keyword analysis showed governance and regulation were more central themes to reports produced by UK-based companies, appearing 80% more frequently than in reports from companies based in India and 73% more than those based in China.
A key component of governance and management of AI lies in how data is being collected, stored and used to train large language models (LLMs). Yet only 28% of business leaders know what sources of data their business uses to train or deploy its AI tools, down from 35% in February. Just two fifths (40%) said their business has clear processes in place around use of confidential data for AI training.
“The business community is steadily building up its understanding of the enormous potential of AI, but the governance gap is concerning and must be addressed,” Susan Taylor Martin, chief executive BSI, said.
“While it can be a force for good, AI will not be a panacea for sluggish growth, low productivity and high costs without strategic oversight and clear guardrails – and indeed without this being in place, new risks to businesses could emerge.
“Divergence in approaches between organisations and markets creates real risks of harmful applications. Overconfidence, coupled with fragmented and inconsistent governance approaches, risks leaving many organisations vulnerable to avoidable failures and reputational damage. It’s imperative that businesses move beyond reactive compliance to proactive, comprehensive AI governance.”
What’s Still Unaddressed?
Nearly a third of executives (32%) felt AI has been a source of risk or weakness for their business, with just one in three (33%) having a standardised process for employees to follow then introducing new AI tools.
Capability in managing these risks appears to be declining, with only 49% saying their organisation includes AI-related risks within broader compliance obligations, down from 60% in the last six months. Just 30% reported having a formal risk assessment process to evaluate where AI may be introducing new vulnerabilities.
In their annual reports, financial services (FS) organizations placed the highest emphasis on AI-related risk and security (25% more focus than the next highest, the built environment).
FS firms particularly highlighted the cybersecurity risks associated with implementing AI, likely reflecting traditional consumer protection responsibilities and the reputational consequences of security breaches. In contrast, technology and transport companies placed significantly less emphasis on this theme, raising questions about sectoral divergence in governance approaches.
There is also limited focus on what happens if AI goes wrong. Just a third say their organisation has a process for logging where issues arise or flagging concerns or inaccuracies with AI tools so they can be addressed (32%), while just three in ten (29%) cite having a process for managing AI incidents and ensuring timely response.
Around a fifth (18%) felt if generative AI tools were unavailable for a period of time, there business could not continue operating.
More than two fifths (43%) of business leaders say AI investment has taken resources that could have been used on other projects. Yet only 29% have a process for avoiding duplication of AI services across the organisation in various departments.
What about human oversight?
Across the annual reports, the term “automation” is nearly seven times more prominent than upskilling, training or education. Overall, the relatively lower prominence of workforce-related topics suggest businesses may be underemphasising the need to invest in human capital alongside technological advancement.
There is some complacency among business leaders that the workforce is well-equipped to navigate the disruptions of AI and the new skills required to get the best out of it. Over half of leaders globally (56%) say they are confident their entry level workforce has the skills needed to use AI, and 57% say their entire organisation currently possesses the necessary skills to effectively use AI tools in their daily tasks. 55% say they are confident their organisation can train staff to use generative AI critically, strategically, and analytically.
A third (34%) have a dedicated learning and development programme to support AI training. A higher proportion (64%) say they’ve received training to use or manage AI safely and securely, suggesting that fear of AI may be driving reactive training, rather than proactive capability-building.
Entrepreneurial Scotland has raised more than £80,000 through its second annual Patrons’ Lunch and charity auction to support the next generation of Scotland’s leaders through the charity’s flagship Saltire Scholars Internship Programme.
The event brought together 120 senior business leaders, patrons, and supporters from across Scotland’s entrepreneurial community, uniting current leaders in support of the next generation.
Funds raised will go directly towards the Saltire Scholars Programme – a global initiative that connects students from Scottish universities with fully funded internships at leading organisations across Australia, Canada, Europe, UK and the USA.
Each experience helps young people build international networks, develop leadership skills, and return to Scotland equipped with the confidence and ambition to drive future growth.
Guests heard from Professor Sir Jim McDonald GBE, Emeritus Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde and newly appointed Chair of Scottish Enterprise, who spoke about the intangibles of leadership – the importance of networks, reputation and surrounding oneself with diverse perspectives.
Reflecting on his own career, he reminded attendees that “if leadership ever feels lonely, you’re probably doing it wrong,” urging leaders to “crowd others in” and build teams that challenge and strengthen them.
Andy Lothian, Chief Executive of The Insights Group and newly appointed Chair of Entrepreneurial Scotland, also addressed the room, highlighting how Scotland’s senior leaders can act as catalysts for change by creating opportunity and belief in the next generation.
The live auction, hosted by BBC presenter Natasha Raskin Sharp (Antiques Road Trip and Bargain Hunt), brought the afternoon to life as guests bid generously in support of future leaders – helping to raise a total of £80,225 for the Saltire Scholars Programme.
“The Patrons’ Lunch captures what’s best about Scotland’s business community – leaders coming together to give back, to connect, and to create opportunity for others,” Lothian said.
“It’s a reminder that when we share belief and invest in potential, we strengthen not just individual futures but the future of Scotland itself.”
Sean McGrath, Chief Executive of Entrepreneurial Scotland, added: “The generosity shown at this year’s Patrons’ Lunch will have a direct and lasting impact. Every pound raised helps us open doors for talented students, giving them access to experiences that build confidence, belief, and ambition.
“It’s thanks to the continued support of Scotland’s leaders that we can create opportunities which not only change lives but help shape the future of Scotland.”
Employers are struggling to keep up with AI transformation in the workforce due to a shortfall of AI skills, according to a new UK government report.
It is estimated that AI adoption could boost the UK economy by up to £400 billion by 2030 through enhancements in innovation and workplace productivity, according to the AI Opportunities Action Plan.
For example, AI opportunities are opening out for the construction sector, including drone-assisted surveying for land assessments, and augmented reality for on-site safety simulations. But adoption is slow, with a lack of basic digital literacy identified as a key issue for the sector.
With Creative Industries, AI is available for content creation and digital storytelling. However, the report indicates that too many freelancers and smaller employers are using the technology without training, sparking worries over quality control and originality.
And while AI is being applied in many areas in the UK for the Advanced Manufacturing sector – including with automation, predictive maintenance, and robotics – it faces a growing AI skills gap exacerbated by an ageing workforce.
A key common barrier to adoption is poor employer understanding, particularly among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), of what is meant by AI skills and what their staff need to learn.
“AI has the power to transform our economy – but only if people have the right skills to utilise it effectively. This report makes clear that too many employers are still unsure how to begin their AI journey,” Jacqui Smith, minister for skills, said.
“That’s why, through Skills England, we’re working hand-in-hand with industry to equip the workforce with the tools they need for the future. By doing so, we’re not just preparing our economy for the jobs of tomorrow – we’re raising living standards and putting more money in people’s pockets as part of our Plan for Change.”
The report has introduced three brand new tools to support winder and more responsible AI adoption.
The AI Skills Framework identified relevant technical, responsible, and non-technical skills needed for different job roles and at different levels.
The AI Skills Adoption Pathway Model shows how organisations typically progress through stages of AI adoption, from initial awareness to strategic scaling.
The Employer AI Adoption Checklist provides structured prompts to help employers assess their AI skills readiness, identify workforce gaps, and upskill. It supports adoption of tools such as ChatGPT, image generation systems, and document summarisation platforms.
“It’s an absolute necessity that we build an AI and digitally confident nation helping to improve our productivity and competitiveness,” Phil Smith, chair of Skills England, said.
“While a huge variety of AI technology is becoming available, our report shows that too many employers are currently struggling to reap the benefits.
“The new tools will help employers and training providers map skills needs and make sure the right training is in place. They will be particularly useful to SMEs – who are vital to unlocking AI growth potential but typically won’t have big HR and staff training teams to get to grips with the problem.
Apple and Nvidia’s stocks have soared, as Apple feels the effects of its latest iPhone sales, and Nvidia approaches a record $5 trillion evaluation as the AI bubble continues to expand.
Apple’s stock has reached an all time high, reaching $4 trillion in market cap, driven by sales of its IPhone 17, the newest model released by the firm. The firm’s valuation soon dipped back down just below the threshold at time of reporting.
Unlike Nvidia and Microsoft, which also saw their market value top the $4 trillion mark, Apple did not reach this milestone through AI innovation. It’s largely still behind in the AI race, with investors waiting to see AI-enabled Siri or other AI Apple products. Still, its newest iPhone and other products like the Apple Watch, its computer sales, and Apple TV subscriptions, keep the company well afloat.
Meanwhile, Nvidia, the chip giant, is seeing its market valuation skyrocket, poised to reach the record $5 trillion mark. The chip company saw its stock market value rise by 2.8% in premarket trade just before Wednesday.
CEO Jensen Huang has announced $500 billion in AI chip order, sparking the rise in valuation, as well as plans to construct seven supercomputers commissioned by the US government.
The chip firm just reached the $4 trillion mark in July of this year, a testament to its rapid rise from a chip-marker on the periphery of the tech industry to a central, seemingly indispensable player in the modern AI boom.
The continued rise of Nvidia flies in the face of concerns about the potential burst of the AI bubble, which dwarfs the dot.com bubble of the early 90s and the devastating financial crisis of 2008.
MarketWatch estimated that the AI bubble is 17 times bigger than the dot-com bubble, and four times larger than the 2008 bubble.
Nvidia’s historic rise comes with new powers for its stock – the firm holds more weight in the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, meaning that changes in its stock could effect pension funds and global portfolios and ETFs.
With this power comes responsibility to investors, with high expectations of the firm to not slip up on its deliverables.
Over three quarters (78%) of UK residents think new data centres should only be constructed if they will be powered by renewable energy sources as more data reveals the staggering effect of data centres on energy consumption, water usage, and carbon emissions.
The data is based on research commissioned by Beyond Fossil Fuels and conducted by Savanta in the UK and four other European countries, which found that people do not want new data centres to jeopardise Europe’s clean energy transition, drain water resources, and raise costs for consumers.
Seven in ten (70%) of UK residents also showed concerns on how a data centre could impact their household water supply if it was built on local land.
The majority of European respondents – which includes representatives in Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, and the UK – think that new data centres should only be built if new renewable energy sources are also created to power them.
Similarly, two thirds (64%) think data centres should not be built if they are powered with fossil fuels, with 76% thinking that data centre facilities should be built only if powered by renewable energy.
Further, about three quarters (73%) think governments should put clear criteria in place to ensure energy distribution is designed appropriately.
Europeans also ranked data centres as least important in times of water shortages, with only 3% ranking them as a first priority in the event of a water shortage. Similarly, only 4% ranked data centres as a top priority when it came to energy shortages.
About seven in ten (69%) reported strong concerns about how data centres would impact their own data supply, with even more people (75%) concerned with how data centres could impact their surrounding ecosystem.
“This is a wake up call for policymakers in Europe racing ahead with data centre expansion at all costs,” Jill McArdle, international corporate campaigner, Beyond Fossil Fuels, said.
“Instead of cheering at this unchecked growth, people are sounding the alarm: unregulated data centres risk stalling the energy transition, draining water resources and sending energy costs skyrocketing.”
“Their message to European leaders is clear: new data centres must not run on fossil fuels. People want to see them powered by renewables, or not built at all.
“But that’s not all, they do not want data centres jumping the queue for access to energy, ahead of households, public services and the electrification of European industries. It is time for Europe to stop pandering to Big Tech and start regulating data centres.”
Microsoft and OpenAI have announced a new deal enabling OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, to restructure itself as a public benefit corporation, valuing the AI pioneer at $500bn, and opening a way for it to be publicly traded.
The deal will also see Microsoft hold a 27% stake of OpenAI Group PBC, equal to about $135 billion. The company itself will be controlled by nonprofit OpenAI Foundation.
Microsoft and OpenAI will be will be tied in the deal until at least 2032, with Microsoft retaining some rights to OpenAI’s products and AI models until then, with Microsoft providing cloud computing facilities for the AI firm.
The new deal will open up OpenAI to opportunities for raising more capital. However, Microsoft’s previous deal with OpenAI had different stipulations dependent on OpenAI achieving artificial general intelligence. If OpenAI reaches this point, it would need to be verified by an independent panel, but Microsoft would maintain its stake regardless.
Microsoft saw its shared soar by 4% as the deal was announced.
“The nonprofit remains in control of the for-profit, and now has a direct path to major resources before AGI arrives,” the OpenAI Foundation’s board chair, Bret Taylor, said in a blog post.
Further to this deal, OpenAI has also purchased $250 billion of Azure cloud computing services from Microsoft, for which Microsoft will no longer have the right to first refusal to provide cloud computing services to OpenAI.
While Microsoft will retain some rights to OpenAI’s software, it will not have any rights to the firm’s hardware.
The deal also allows OpenAI to jointly develop some products with third parties, and non-API products can be served on any cloud provider.
Microsoft will also be able to independently pursue AGI alone or in partnership with third parties.
With that, OpenAI is now restructured to be, at least partially, for-profit, and opened up to potential public trading.
