In the report, the technology trade association calls on the government — and whichever government takes over in the next general election — to provide the necessary support to help the country’s tech industry remain globally competitive and innovative.

“While the UK is a strong and dynamic tech market with ambitious plans to further our position as a technology leader, over recent years we have fallen off the pace and our delivery has faltered,” the report states. “Currently we are at risk of losing our position as a leader in tech and the benefits that this brings.”

To help usher in a more conducive environment for the creation, growth, and leveraging of tech and tech companies in the UK, the report underscores myriad pain-points and suggested 18 actionable solutions, so that the government can “ensure that we can remain at the global forefront of technological innovation.”

In summary, techUK’s proposed solutions are:

1. Improving access to day-to-day digital services, cutting costs for both central and local government, as well as improving public services.
2. Making the UK one of the most trusted, safe, and secure places to be online.
3. Plugging the digital skills gap to boost pay, opportunity, and national resilience.
4. Making sure everyone has access to the online world.
5. Delivering the digital transformation that the NHS and social care system needs.
6. Rethinking the approach of how technology can support the criminal justice system.
7. Regaining the UK’s reputation as a global leader in Open Data and rank among the five countries on the UN E-Government Index.
8. Ensuring the UK holds on to its fintech crown.
9. Growing tech clusters across the UK.
10. Supporting a thriving digital and AI ethics ecosystem to enable better governance and regulation.
11. Digitising the day-to-day economy, helping small businesses get ready for AI.
12. Fixing the UK’s broken scale up economy.
13. Ensuring we have a competitive innovation economy.
14. Commercialising and deploying the emerging technologies vital to a growing and resilient economy.
15. Building a smarter approach to foreign and trade policy for the UK.
16. Boosting the competitiveness of the UK as a green technology hub.
17. Empowering individuals and businesses to better understand and improve environmental footprint.
18. And making tech greener.

On the new report and the suggested ways of tackling current compounding issues, Julian David, the CEO of techUK, said that “we need politicians to act, set out a long-term plan for the sector, provide a better approach to regulation and deliver on strategies for key technologies.

“That is why techUK has set out our UK Tech Plan, presenting 18 examples of how technology can build a better future for people, society, the economy and our planet and recommendations on how to ensure our regulatory system can cope with the faster pace of technological change and the AI revolution,” he continued.

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The plan has been published amid recent vexation from notable tech players regarding how the UK government handles the tech industry.

Last month, Nikolay Storonsky, the CEO of Revolut — the London-based fintech company which is Europe’s most valuable fintech firm — said that “it’s hard to do business in the UK” and that “there are higher taxes to pay and an extremely bureaucratic regulator,” according to The Times.

This week, Microsoft President Brad Smith is set to meet with UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to “voice his frustration,” according to Bloomberg, surrounding the CMA’s decision to block the acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard over concerns of making the cloud gaming market non-competitive.

To read A UK tech plan in full, click here.