The snappily named “Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland regarding the Technology Prosperity Deal” was the news to trump all other policy news. The question many are asking: does this deal mark a win for UK sovereignty, or is it another step towards dependence?
The partnership is designed to deepen collaboration on AI and other frontier technologies, focusing on joint research, shared policy approaches and wider science cooperation, but notably steers clear of contentious issues such as digital services taxes and AI copyright. What grabbed most headlines, though, was the flood of investment announced alongside it: Microsoft pledging £22 billion into UK AI infrastructure, Google committing £5 billion to a new data centre, and Blackstone, Nvidia and OpenAI backing a £10 billion “Stargate UK” project in the North East. Altogether, more than £30 billion of private capital is heading for Britain’s tech sector – a reminder of Britain’s appeal to US tech giants, but also its reliance on them.
Keegan McBride from the Tony Blair Institute offers an optimistic take. For him, the Tech Prosperity Deal is sovereignty-enhancing. Britain contributes its research and start-up ecosystem, the US provides capital and infrastructure. In a geopolitical landscape shaped by Washington and Beijing, choosing the US is not dependency but a deliberate strategy. In his telling, sovereignty is not always about self-sufficiency, but about smart alliances that keep options open.
McBride argues that digitalisation is no longer separate from geopolitics — it is geopolitics. The question is not whether Britain can build everything alone, but whether it can place itself at the heart of the most secure and innovative networks. By this measure, the Tech Prosperity Deal strengthens Britain’s hand. Far from narrowing our options, closer partnership with the US expands them, giving the UK the resources to innovate across the economy and play to our natural advantages in talent, science and entrepreneurial culture.
Not everyone shares McBride’s optimism. Mike Bracken, the UK’s former chief digital officer, countered in the Financial Times that we have become “takers, not makers.” For Bracken, we need to follow the example of France with Mistral, Germany with Helsing, Brazil with Pix and India with Bhashini by backing domestic champions.
Jeegar Kakkad offers a useful definition, arguing that sovereignty is best understood as agency and choice. In other words, having the ability to determine our future without being locked in by today’s dependencies. That perspective allows us to look past slogans and measure whether Britain is preserving its capacity to decide for itself.
Take defence. The announcement that a Royal Navy support ship will be largely built in Spain has reignited arguments over Britain’s industrial base. Belfast’s historic Harland & Wolff yard simply wasn’t ready, so construction has shifted abroad. The Ministry of Defence insists the ships will still be assembled in the UK, but the trade-offs are clear. As Kakkad put it in his “Defence Trilemma,” we can prioritise jobs, speed, or sovereignty — but not all three.
Bracken’s own experience here is informative, as he was central to the creation of the Government Digital Service (GDS). GDS proved Britain could lead. By 2016 it topped the UN’s E-Government Index, saved £1.3 billion through tighter IT controls, and helped found the Digital Nations coalition. But that lead slipped when we stopped putting innovators at the heart of government. Had we sustained that focus, the UK might now have govtech unicorns to rival Estonia’s Veriff or Guardtime.
In addition, there’s certainly room for a lot more innovation to be injected into public procurement. As Chris Haley, Sam Dumitriu and Aria Babu argued in our Procurement and Innovation paper:
“Public bodies prefer large ‘turnkey’ solutions… Requiring complete solutions tends to preference the established and larger suppliers, resulting in procurers getting an ‘end-to-end’ system that may be outdated or inferior in its core capabilities.”
In other words, procurement still operates by the old maxim: nobody ever got fired for buying IBM – or their modern equivalents.
Too often, sovereignty debates collapse into fatalism — either we cling to self-sufficiency or surrender to dependence. The Tech Prosperity Deal shows that allies want to invest in our future. Our task is to ensure we put in place the policy foundations to ensure Britain’s innovators can compete.
Where it’s Due
Join us on Thursday morning – or send your CFO, FD, Financial Controller, etc. – for a private roundtable on the future of R&D tax credits, hosted by our Corporate Partner Buzzacott. We’re especially excited to debut a new output from our events: an anonymised paper capturing the key insights and recommendations from the discussion. This will be shared directly with policymakers, offering attendees a unique opportunity to shape the future of R&D tax credits while also gaining valuable peer-to-peer insights from other founders and finance leaders.
Up for Debate
As our growing WhatsApp community already knows (join here), a senior producer from Debate Night, BBC Scotland’s flagship current affairs debate show, has reached out to ask if we can suggest entrepreneurs, investors, experts, and others who might be interested in appearing on the programme. If you’re based in Scotland and would like to be considered, please email us at and we’ll pass your details on. Do feel free to share this opportunity with others in your own network.
Summit Special
I’m delighted to share that Karina Robinson, long-time friend of the network, has joined as an Adviser. Among many things, Karina is the brains behind The City Quantum & AI Summit, which is returning to Mansion House on the 8 October 2025. Find out more here.
Learn more about Karina here. And if you happen to agree with her following words, find out how to join our growing band of esteemed Advisers here:
“Over the last decade The Entrepreneurs Network has grown from scratch into an organisation that truly represents entrepreneurs in the UK. A sector that is the backbone of the economy, and its future hope, had lacked a voice. The Entrepreneurs Network listens to the challenges and opportunities through its vast network of entrepreneurs and transmits the messages to government and the wider public superbly, whether it be on taxes, immigration, or any other relevant topic.”
Message from our Partner
Corporate Partners Blick Rothenberg and the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) are hosting a high-impact breakfast debate bringing together successful entrepreneurs, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and heads of tax and finance to have a discussion around how our tax system should evolve to meet the needs of a modern, competitive economy. Taking place on Wednesday 15 October, this will be a unique opportunity to help shape the conversation and contribute to meaningful reform. Please note, places are limited.
Surveys
Entrepreneurs Survey
This is an opportunity to provide your views on what it is like to be an entrepreneur in the UK – including the challenges you face, and how you feel about the actions being taken by the Government. It should take less than 10 minutes to complete.
Spin-outs
We’re gathering evidence for our next Female Founders Forum report, which will investigate how university spinouts are created in the UK today, and what policy fixes are needed to support their growth. If you have spun out a company from a UK university within the last three years (or are in the process of doing so), or are someone who supports spinouts (e.g. through a TTO, university, funder, or advisory organisation), please consider filling in our survey and sharing it with others. And if you’d like to be interviewed for this research or know someone who should, just drop Anastasia a line.
Our Next Events
Unlocking Innovation: Making R&D Tax Credits Work
🗓 Thursday, 25 September 2025
🕐 8.30am to 10am
📍 City of London
ℹ️ A breakfast roundtable exploring how the R&D tax credits regime is currently supporting innovation, where improvements are needed, and how policymakers can help ensure the UK remains a world-class destination for R&D investment
⏩ Request a place
TEN x Connected.Ventures: Ecosystem Builders Meetup
🗓 Wednesday, 1 October 2025
🕐 8.30am to 10am
📍 Canary Wharf
ℹ️ An informal morning meetup for entrepreneurship ecosystem builders with KPMG
⏩ Request a place
Employment Rights Bill: What Does it Mean for Businesses?
🗓 Wednesday, 15 October 2025
🕐 11am to 12pm
📍 The City, London
ℹ️ A virtual roundtable to discuss the implications of the Government’s Employment Rights Bill on businesses, chaired by Lord Leigh
⏩ Request a place
Driving Transformation: Harnessing Tech to Rebuild Britain
🗓 Thursday, 16 October 2025
🕐 12.15pm to 2.30pm
📍 House of Lords
ℹ️ A private lunch for technology leaders, policymakers and entrepreneurs driving digital transformation
⏩ Request a place
Dinner with the Rt Hon Sir Mel Stride MP: The Road to the Autumn Budget
🗓 Tuesday, 21 October 2025
🕐 6.30pm to 9.30pm
📍 Central London
ℹ️ A private dinner to discuss the main priorities, hopes and practical challenges for entrepreneurs ahead of the Autumn Budget
⏩ Request a place
Young Entrepreneurs Forum: Report Launch
🗓 Wednesday, 29 October 2025
🕐 3.30pm to 5pm
📍 House of Lords
ℹ️ An afternoon tea reception in the House of Lords to celebrate the launch of the Young Entrepreneurs Forum’s flagship report
⏩ Request a place
Optimising Accelerators for Full Speed Ahead
🗓 Tuesday, 4 November 2025
🕐 10am to 11am
📍 Mayfair, London
ℹ️ A roundtable hosted by Steve Rigby, to discuss how Britain can build on its strong network of startup support programmes
⏩ Request a place
Quarterly Adviser Roundtable
🗓 Tuesday, 2 December 2025
🕐 10am to 11.30am
📍 Shoreditch, London
ℹ️ Our quarterly roundtable for Advisers and Patrons of The Entrepreneurs Network.
⏩ Request a place
News and Views
A pact to spur new nuclear energy was agreed (Paywall – The Telegraph)
Britain was ranked sixth in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s latest Global Innovation Index
“My personal ambition is to look back in 10 years and see transformational technologies that have become commonplace in our lives,” says Kitty Mayo when chatting with Kai Nicol-Schwarz
Our Patron Steve Rigby writes that ahead of the Budget, reforming the size of the state and overhauling taxation are now unavoidable (Paywall – The Times)
Tom Westgarth investigates whether Britain is a lawyerly economy, or an engineering state
If quarterly-earnings rules were scrapped, would anyone notice? (Paywall – The Economist)
Blair McDougall MP named as the Government’s new small business minister
Our Adviser Sam Dumitriu published a comprehensive report with ideas to drive down the cost of building new nuclear power
Alvin Djajadikerta and Laura Lungu explain why science needs outsiders
Join us
If you haven’t already, it would be great if you would consider joining The Entrepreneurs Network. Our Supporters, Advisers and Corporate Partners are essential in helping us understand what entrepreneurs need to flourish, and are closely connected with our work. If you are already support us – thank you.
Friends of the Network
Breakout Beauty UK: Insider Secrets
🗓 Thursday, 25 September 2025
🕐 12pm to 12.45pm
📍 Online
ℹ️ Insider chat with Boots revealing what they want from Breakout Beauty UK applicants and how to get your brand on their shelves
⏩ Find out more
The City Quantum & AI Summit
🗓 Wednesday, 8 October 2025
🕐 12.15pm to 10pm
📍 Mansion House, London
ℹ️ The Summit turbocharges a conversation on deriving value from awe-inspiring technology used in financial services, dual-use defence, pharma, and many other sectors
⏩ Find out more
Acquisition – Your Business’s Most Powerful Growth Tool
🗓 Tuesday, 11 November 2025
🕐 12pm to 1pm
📍 Online
ℹ️ Acquisitions can be the fastest way for you to scale, solve challenges and seize new opportunities, but almost no one is using it.
⏩ Find out more
Best wishes,
Philip
Philip Salter
Founder
The Entrepreneurs Network