The UK’s new Industrial Strategy comes with no shortage of big promises. It’s encouraging to see the government leaning into long-term thinking and putting tech innovation at the top of its agenda. On paper, it’s the kind of plan we’ve needed for a while, and as someone who’s spent years building tech in the UK, I welcome the ambition.

But let’s be honest: we’ve been here before.

AI is a good start, but let’s talk about sovereign infrastructure

One of the things I was genuinely pleased to see was the creation of a Sovereign AI Unit, with £500 million set aside to help the UK take real ownership of its AI future. If executed well, this could put the UK on the front foot with developing models that reflect our values and standards of governance.

But we can’t afford to stop at model development; we have to look at the infrastructure on which we innovate. Where our AI models are trained and hosted matters just as much as who builds them. If they sit on infrastructure governed by foreign laws, we can say goodbye to our sovereignty ambitions.

Backing British cloud and compute

The Strategy is also backed by some big funding: £86 billion into R&D, a £27.8 billion National Wealth Fund, £4 billion to scale high-growth firms. All great to see. But the real test will be where that money goes.

Despite all the talk of sovereignty and support for home-grown tech, just last month, the government awarded an £18 million hosting contract to Google Cloud via the G-Cloud framework. That’s one of the government’s core departments, responsible for managing tax and personal financial data, entrusting its infrastructure, and by extension, citizen information, to a hyperscaler governed by US law.

And it’s not an isolated case. Time and time again, we see UK public sector cloud deals handed to the same global players without serious consideration for domestic alternatives. As a result, billions of public money is flowing overseas, while British cloud providers with strong capabilities and sovereignty baked in are sidelined.

Procurement reform could fix this. The government has enormous buying power. Used wisely, it could nurture a stronger domestic tech ecosystem and reduce dependency.

Startups, scaleups, and the long-term bet

The Strategy rightly puts emphasis on creating conditions for growth by cutting red tape and boosting access to capital. These are welcome changes. But we can’t just build policy around the assumption that the private sector will do all the heavy lifting on its own.

UK startups, especially in infrastructure and deep tech, often face a funding gap right when they’re ready to scale. Meanwhile, government contracts and support mechanisms tend to favour established names. If we want to grow the next generation of British tech leaders, we have to be willing to back them earlier and more consistently.

That doesn’t just mean grant funding. It means giving them access to the same procurement pipelines and visibility that big tech firms enjoy by default.

Let’s build something that lasts

There’s a lot to be positive about in this Strategy. The investment and ambition are serious. And for the first time in a while, the government seems ready to take a more hands-on approach to shaping the future of UK tech.

But only time will tell whether the investment pays off in a way that is productive for British tech.

I want to see a UK tech sector that is competitive and resilient. One that gives space for smaller players to grow into serious contenders. One where investment decisions reflect not just who’s biggest, but who’s building real value here in the UK.

There’s a chance here to do things differently. Let’s not waste it.