United Kingdom

ACT represents startups and small tech companies across the UK, providing insight and advocacy to shape a policy environment that reflects how technology is built and used in practice. ACT works with our members across the UK to understand the realities of operating a startup or small tech company and advocating for change in London.

We support a vibrant and growing community of founders, innovators, and funders dedicated to supporting each other and building a stronger small technology community.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a key element of innovation and competitiveness in the app economy. While many small developers have used AI and machine learning for years to look for bugs and to manipulate data, today the implementation models of AI are changing almost daily. Startups and small tech companies are at the forefront of this new AI revolution. As the regulatory landscape evolves, it is crucial to strike a balance between fostering innovation and protecting consumers and businesses from demonstrated harms. Policies must be crafted in a way that supports the diverse needs of the app economy, particularly the startups and small tech companies that rely on AI to compete and thrive in a dynamic market.

Online Marketplaces & Competition

Curated Online Marketplaces (COMs), such as app stores, help small teams reach users. But policies like the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) which mandate broad access requirements can weaken security, raise fraud risk, and create disruptive implementation churn that hits small developers first. Startups and small tech companies leverage COMs, including app stores, cloud platforms, and e-commerce hubs, to reach customers efficiently. Startups and small companies rely on the economics of trust – the long-term accretion of consumer confidence won by well-managed marketplaces – to sell products and services to customers that otherwise would be suspicious of young companies.

Connected Health

Technology has the power to improve patient engagement and health outcomes, but antiquated rules hold back innovation and adoption. From coverage and payment to interoperability and information blocking to privacy and security the stakes are high. In order to ensure that patients, provides, and the healthcare ecosystem as a whole can make beneficial use of digital health and AI tools rules must be updated to encourage innovation and adoption while addressing identifiable risks.

Current policy focus in United Kingdom

Recent

  • Global Encryption Day – 21 October 2026

    Encryption is a critical tool developers and companies of all sizes use to protect their users’ most sensitive data, but proposals that call for mandated back doors to encryption threaten those protections. For Global Encryption Day, 21 October 2026, we convened a panel of experts to talk through the current global state of encryption and why it's so important for privacy and security.

  • UK IPO Embraces Half Measures in Voluntary Guidelines

    ACT expressed disappointment at the half-measures proposed in the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office's (UK IPO) report on its standard-essential patents (SEP) consultation to address abusive licensing practices.

  • Startup and Tech SME Letter to UK Prime Minister

    Knowing that supporting SMEs and delivering economic growth are at the heart of your mission as Prime Minister, we are reaching out in our capacity as entrepreneurs and innovators working at the coalface of the British tech economy to flag some of the issues that are most affecting our sector and which can be addressed quickly and easily, with no need for additional public spending or primary legislation.

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