Senior British and American officials gather on South Kensington campus following US-UK Tech Prosperity Deal
Two British ministers and a White House official participated in a panel at the Imperial Business School
Imperial College Business School hosted a panel of high-profile British and American technology and business officials on Friday, following the signing of the landmark UK-US Tech Prosperity Deal earlier in the week during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK.
The panel included Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Business and Trade; Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology; and Michael Kratsios, White House’s Director of Science and Technology Policy. Amanda Wolthuizen, Imperial’s Vice-President for Strategic Engagement, moderated.
The historic tech deal is aimed at enhancing transatlantic collaboration in key industries such as AI, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy. US companies have pledged to invest 31 billion pounds in the UK, of which 22 billion will come from Microsoft to strengthen the British digital infrastructure. In total, the deal contains around 150 billion pounds worth of investments.
Both British officials, having assumed their new government positions only this month, discussed the deal’s potential to benefit previously disadvantaged parts of the UK.
Kyle took the opportunity to thank Kratsios and the Trump administration for their collaboration on the deal. Whilst he acknowledged that there are “a lot of differences” between Trump and Starmer, he explained: “We are two administrations that care very much about those communities that have been left behind by past waves of industrial change and for too long simply haven’t had not just investment, but the kind of investment that is empowering and gives long-term, sustainable economic security to communities that have had none for a long time.”
Kendall pointed to the two “AI growth zones,” which are estimated to unlock 30 billion pounds in investment and 5,000 jobs in the Northeast of England. “It is hugely important that a place that led the Industrial Revolution that created so many jobs and opportunities can now be shown to be leading the technological revolution for the people who need it most,” she said.
When asked about the significance of the deal, Kratsios highlighted the significant alignment between the US and UK innovation ecosystems, including how the UK’s vast biology and life sciences datasets and the US’ computing infrastructure can jointly drive AI research and development. “Our synergies and our R&D ecosystems can come together to drive far better outcomes than we could have done individually,” he said.
The panellists also discussed the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship in both countries’ labour markets and universities, with Kyle hailing Imperial as “world-class” in this regard. In her opening remarks, Professor Mary Ryan, Imperial’s Vice Provost for Research and Enterprise, highlighted the university’s San Francisco innovation hub as a key “innovation bridge” between London and the Bay Area.
