Invest in Social Infrastructure Alongside Physical Infrastructure
Invest in Social Infrastructure Alongside Physical Infrastructure UKAI welcomes yesterday’s announcement of a further £6.3 billion investment to build data centres across the UK from ServiceNow, CyrusOne, CloudHQ,CoreWeave. This follows the news back in April of Blackstone’s investment of £10 billion to build one of Europe’s largest data centres in Blyth and Amazon’s announcement in September that they will be investing £8 billion. These investments are testament to the hard work of successive governments in setting out the business case for the UK as a global leader in technological innovation, now and into the future. The new Labour government has underlined its commitment to supporting the technology ecosystem with a number of announcements, not least the imminent AI opportunities action plan. Investors are looking for certainty and the government’s announcement in August that they would speed up planning decisions to enable new infrastructure to be built has provided further reassurance: Confirmation of the Amazon investment came within weeks. Whilst these investments provide long term opportunities for businesses, UKAI believes that there is an even more important type of infrastructure, the social infrastructure. Of course there are a number of important phases to plan the development of these data centres and there are already a number of concerns around access to physical infrastructure (water, electricity, fibre) but it is time to start planning how we will connect these data centres to the local communities through skills, knowledge, training and jobs. We’re looking forward to seeing national and local government take the lead in bringing together universities, colleges, schools and communities in ‘clusters’ around these data centres. There is a massive opportunity to diffuse the skills, knowledge and capital from these new investments into the local communities. But, like the physical infrastructure, building the social infrastructure will take time and focus to plan and deliver. It’s time to start.
The UK government will launch The Regulatory Innovation Office to curb red tape and speed up public access to innovative solutions, based on emerging technology.
The UK government will launch The Regulatory Innovation Office to curb red tape and speed up public access to innovative solutions, based on emerging technology. Creating new legislation is one of the key levers that governments have to deliver their strategic plans. Whilst there are a number of different types of new legislation, businesses are often concerned when they hear about new regulations. The General Data Protection Regulation was a case in point as it required businesses to comply with a dizzying list of new regulations. Whilst larger businesses were able to hire teams of lawyers to advise them on GDPR compliance, smaller businesses struggled. SMEs have less money, less time and fewer resources and new legislation can cause significant friction, draining those precious resources and hindering growth. So, the government’s move to set up RIO is a welcomed move. It signals an understanding of the impact of current regulations and hints at a better appreciation of the need to create regulations that work for technology businesses. This requires regulation that is designed around the specifics of individual industry sectors (such as life sciences) or more broadly designed for the rapid evolution of emerging technologies. Setting up an office specifically for this purpose indicates not just the right direction of travel, but a deeper understanding of how technology businesses operate. For now RIO is focused on four industry sectors: Engineering biology, space, AI and digital in healthcare and autonomous technology. Hopefully, if it is successful the same process can be extended to cover more industry sectors. RIO has 3 important aims: To coordinate existing regulators more effectively, to identify regulations that act as barriers to business growth and then to propose updates, with input from businesses. But the real business benefit is providing certainty. Businesses are by nature ‘glass-half-full’ but they view regulations as major risks, with the potential for significant impact. Although much of the detail is missing, this initial announcement indicates that the government is using its resources to mitigate that risk.
US Investment Firm Blackstone to build one of Europe’s largest datacentres in Blyth, Northumbria.
US Investment Firm Blackstone to build one of Europe’s largest datacentres in Blyth, Northumbria. The announcement that Blackstone, a leading US investment firm, will invest £10bn to build a cutting-edge AI datacentre in Blyth, Northumberland, marks a transformative moment for both the region and the UK as a whole. This ambitious project, set to create over 4,000 jobs and establish one of Europe’s largest hyperscale AI datacentres, reflects Northumbria council’s proactive engagement with international investors and reinforces the UK’s global position of leadership in AI. It is a great example of government and investors collaborating to create net-new opportunities across the UK. The jobs created and the investment in local infrastructure will provide concrete examples of the sorts of benefits that the AI industry can produce, helping to build public trust and support. Alongside the construction of the datacentre, £110 million will be allocated to improve transport infrastructure and provide skills training to ensure the local workforce is prepared to participate in this rapidly evolving industry. Hopefully, further public and private investment will follow, creating social infrastructure, specifically skills and training, around the datacentre that will have a long lasting and transformative impact in Blyth, a traditionally industrial region. This announcement comes soon after the announcement that Amazon will be investing £8bn in new datacentres, and further reinforces the UK’s International Leadership in AI. The sheer scale of these investments positions the UK as a premier destination for AI development and is a significant win for Blyth, Northumberland, and the UK. Building the future of AI in the UK is underway. We look forward to hearing more about the government’s plans to encourage further investment in skills and training, to really make the most of these opportunities and lay the foundations for economic growth and continued leadership in AI.