PM call with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida: 4 November 2022

Press release

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this morning.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this morning.

The leaders agreed the UK and Japan were incredibly important allies, who played a vital role in ensuring global stability and prosperity.

Reiterating the importance of ensuring a free and independent Indo-Pacific, the Prime Minister said that the UK was aligned with Japan on the challenges in the region.

Both leaders condemned the recent North Korean missile launches, and the Prime Minister said it was vital the international community remained closely coordinated on the best way forward.

Turning to trade, both Prime Ministers shared the view that the Pacific trade bloc, CPTPP, was an important framework and the UK’s accession offered a unique opportunity to support prosperity across the world.

Discussing progress on the UK’s Future Combat Air System, the leaders agreed that deeper cooperation on the next-generation fighter jet programme would underline the close relationship between the two nations.

Both leaders looked forward to meeting in person soon.

Published 4 November 2022



Europe’s top tech scale-ups announced at Web Summit

  • Four winners revealed from across Europe
  • Winners represent range of sectors, including digital health, cyber security and artificial intelligence
  • All finalists to receive a personalised business development package, connecting them to the UK

The UK Government’s 2022 tech scale-ups programme, the Tech Rocketship Awards, reached its conclusion today. The Awards identified the brightest and best tech companies and will accelerate the global growth of its winners, through curated programmes connecting them with the UK’s ecosystem of investors, incubators and High Potential Opportunity (HPO) clusters.

The Grand Finale saw eight finalists battle it out in live ‘dragons den’ style pitches in front of an expert panel of judges at the residence of His Majesty’s Ambassador to Portugal, Chris Sainty. The finalists were invited to the UK pavilion at Web Summit afterwards for an awards ceremony.

The Tech Rocketship Awards Categories were: AI, 5G, Agri-Tech, Digital Health, Cybersecurity, Climate Tech and a Trailblazers Award – Diversity in Tech.

Winners:

  • Gold – Digital Health – Enbiosis (Turkey): Analyses the human gut microbiome using metadata and AI to provide personalized health and wellness solutions.

  • Silver – Cyber Security – Facephi (Spain): Provides secure user digital identity verification and specialises in digital onboarding and biometric authentication solutions.

  • Bronze – Artificial Intelligence – Jungle AI (The Netherlands): Applies AI to increase the uptime and performance of electromechanical assets such as wind turbines, solar farms or industrial production lines.

  • Trailblazers Award (Promoting Diversity in Tech) – Digital Health – Resistomap (Finland): The first end-to-end platform in the world that monitors antibiotic resistance bacteria and pre-warns clients in case of a potential outbreak.

Chris Barton, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe said:

There is no better place for ambitious tech companies to grow than the UK. This is the number one country in Europe for Unicorns, and UK tech VC investment is the third largest in the world. Our tech sector is the home of forward-thinking innovators, venture capital, R&D clusters and opportunities for growth across the whole of the UK.

Tech Rocketships will provide the lucky winners with a rocket-powered, fully-tailored direct route to the financiers, incubators, tech-savvy customers, and all the infrastructure needed to help them make that next great leap from ambitious scale-up to unicorn.

Kenan Poleo, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for EECAN (Eastern Europe Central Asian Network) said:

Turkish companies responded brilliantly to the Tech Rocketship Awards. The awards offer companies in the vibrant Turkish tech ecosystem a rocket-powered, fully-tailored direct route to the financiers, incubators, tech-savvy customers, and infrastructure needed to help them make that next great leap from ambitious scale-up to unicorn.

Priya Guha, Venture Partner, Merrian Ventures & Non-Executive Director at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Digital Catapult said:

I was thrilled to be part of the judging panel for this year’s Tech Rocketship Awards and to hear from some of the incredible European tech businesses that are looking to the UK to scale-up and go global.

Whilst they represented a breadth of sectors from biotech to artificial intelligence to AgriTech, all of them will find the UK a great place to scale. In the UK, we have a wealth of diverse tech talent in researchers, developers and experienced scale-up leaders. We also have an open and welcoming business environment and competitive set up costs, all of which will be invaluable to these companies. The UK is rich in opportunity for tech businesses and I look forward to seeing how the UK will be part of the success stories for these fantastic award winners.

The panel of judges was led by experienced entrepreneurs, dealmakers and representatives of government and industry:

  • Priya Guha, Venture Partner, Merrian Ventures, Non-Executive Director at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Digital Catapult
  • Dr Mike Short CBE, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for International Trade (DIT)
  • Jude Ower MBE, Founder & CEO of Playmob, Global Entrepreneur Programme Dealmaker, DIT
  • Christian Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Capital Kinetics

More information about the next awards will soon be communicated to find the next cohort of top tech businesses. Companies can already sign up for further details.

Full details about the competition, including terms and conditions are on the Tech Rocketship Awards website.

All finalists:

  • 5G – Neutroon (Spain): Open-API cloud platform that makes private LTE/5G and Neutral Host simple and scalable for operators and end-users.

  • Cyber Security – Facephi (Spain): Provides secure user digital identity verification and specialises in digital onboarding and biometric authentication solutions.

  • Climate Tech – Monolithos (Greece): Manufactures direct-fit aftermarket automotive catalytic converters.

  • Digital Health – Enbiosis (Turkey): Analyses the human gut microbiome using metadata and AI to provide personalized health and wellness solutions.

  • Artificial Intelligence – Jungle AI (The Netherlands): Applies AI to increase the uptime and performance of electromechanical assets such as wind turbines, solar farms or industrial production lines.

  • AgriTech – Blue White Robotics (Israel): The ‘robots-as-a-service’ platform provides solutions for building autonomous farms.

  • Cyber Security – Authenteq (Germany): Is the world’s first fully automated identity verification eKYC™ platform. Their AI-powered system allows companies and services to onboard users in just 35 seconds.

  • Digital Health – Resistomap (Finland): Is the first end-to-end platform in the world that monitors antibiotic resistance bacteria and pre-warns clients in case of a potential outbreak.



UK statement on the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia

Government response

An FCDO Spokesperson issued a statement on the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the conflict in Ethiopia, two days after the signing of a peace agreement between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

FCDO Spokesperson:

” The UK welcomes the important step towards peace taken by the Ethiopian Government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front in signing a cessation of hostilities on 2 November, and commends their choice to end the devastating two-year-long conflict.

“We are grateful to the leadership shown in brokering this critical agreement by African Union Commission Chairperson Faki, African Union High Representative to the Horn of Africa Obasanjo, former South African Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka, former Kenyan President Kenyatta, and the South African Government in hosting the talks.

“It is now crucial that all parties in Ethiopia, with support from its friends in the international community, move to implement the agreement. Most critically, humanitarian aid must be urgently delivered to all those in conflict-affected areas.

“Peace creates opportunities for justice, reconciliation and reconstruction. The UK, as a longstanding friend and partner of Ethiopia, stands ready to work alongside the Ethiopian Government and others to support the recovery of conflict affected areas. We look forward to seeing the benefits of peace for the people of Ethiopia.”

Published 4 November 2022



Lord Stewart of Dirleton reappointed as Advocate General

News story

The Prime Minister has reappointed Lord Stewart of Dirleton KC as Advocate General for Scotland.

The Prime Minister has reappointed Lord Stewart of Dirleton KC as Advocate General for Scotland.

The Advocate General for Scotland is one of the Law Officers of the Crown and advises the government on Scots law matters.

Commenting on his reappointment, Lord Stewart said:

“I am honoured to have been reappointed as Advocate General for Scotland.”

“I look forward to working with the Attorney General, the Solicitor General for England and Wales, Government lawyers and the Civil Service to play my part in making the law and politics work together at the heart of the UK constitution.”

Lord Stewart was appointed Advocate General in October 2020. He was reappointed as Advocate General on 27 October 2022.

He was called to the Bar in 1993 and took silk in 2011. He specialises in criminal law, and has advised on other matters including defamation and intellectual property.

Published 4 November 2022



UK brings carbon market experts together ahead of COP27

World news story

On Monday 10th October 2022, the UK Government and the Government of Ghana held a Carbon Market Development Roundtable at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.

A panel of experts led the final session of the event.

The event brought together generators, traders, verifiers, and other professionals to review and improve the current climate finance regulations, the market, and understand new and existing ways to support the growth of new networks to make the climate finance market successful in Ghana.

Speaking ahead of the workshop, Mrs Thompson said:

The benefits of carbon markets are two-fold: they bring finance and they bring protection. Ghana’s beautiful forests and green spaces put the country in prime position to benefit from a well-functioning carbon market.

Our event today has brought together the right people from across industry, civil society, government, and business to focus on getting Ghana access to the world’s growing carbon markets. Together we are making sure that Ghana gets the right investment now to protect the country’s vital natural resources for generations to come.

Attendees at the Carbon Market Development event spent time discussing and interrogating information and policies to support the growth of Ghana’s carbon market. Discussions were followed by a networking event hosted by the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, and key policy officials from the High Commission.

Ghana has already taken important steps towards developing carbon markets as a climate finance opportunity. The country’s Environmental Protection Agency has drafted a new National Framework to govern and support carbon markets, while projects to generate carbon credits in Ghana are under development. The UK government recognises the importance of these developments and is working hard, in the run-up to COP27, to bring the right people together to help this market grow.

Organisers hope that the discussion and ideas generated at the event will now help to grow the understanding and support for Ghana’s own carbon market. As well as supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Framework.

Published 4 November 2022