The UK and French governments are set to announce a five-year accord to improve their respective countries digital services at the UK-France Digital Colloque.
Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is visiting Paris today to address the data and digital economy in a bilateral conference alongside French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs Mounir Mahjoubi.
Hancock and Mahjoubi will sign an accord on digital government, extending their co-operation within the sector on innovation, artificial intelligence, data, and digital administration.
Both countries aim to boost their digital economies whilst fostering better links between tech companies from their respective nations.
According to the Tech Nation 2018 report that was released in May 2018, the digital tech sector in the UK is worth £184 billion to the economy.
The Digital Secretary highlighted the UK’s strong tech position a key factor in their French partnership.
Hancock said: “The UK is a digital dynamo, increasingly recognised across the world as a place where ingenuity and innovation can flourish. We are home to four in ten of Europe’s tech businesses worth more than $1 billion and London is the AI capital of Europe.
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“France is also doing great work in this area, and these new partnerships show the strength and depth of our respective tech industries and are the first stage in us developing a closer working relationship. This will help us better serve our citizens and provide a boost for our digital economies.”
The Alan Turing Institute is signing an agreement with the French institute DATAIA where they will be promoting collaborative research in areas such as design and implementing algorithms.
Alan Wilson, CEO of The Alan Turing Institute added: “The Institute and DATAIA both share a vision for building research in data science and AI which crosses disciplinary boundaries and recognises the societal implications of data and algorithms.
“It is a pleasure to kickstart this engagement and we look forward to working with them to advance UK and French excellence in this area.”
The news comes off the back of a UK’s announcement to build tech hubs within South Africa and Brazil nearly a month ago.
