The international trade secretary Liz Truss has announced a new international trade strategy for the UK tech industry, including a package of interventions to increase UK tech exports and attract international investment into the sector.

With a number of digital tech sub-sectors seeing increased demand as a result of Coronavirus - including EdTech, MedTech, FinTech and cyber security - the strategy aims to open up more export opportunities across these and other technology areas.

Developed in partnership with stakeholders across the industry, the package of strategic interventions will seek to increase tech exports to fast-growing international markets, strengthen scale-ups’ market readiness to export, and attract investment to drive innovation and create jobs.

Among other measures, the new strategy includes the creation of a new Digital Trade Network (DTN) for the Asia Pacific region, which will support UK small businesses to break into the Asian market.

The plans also include the launch of a new Tech Exporting Academy, which will provide expert advice to UK scale-ups on subject areas essential to expansion, including regulation, intellectual property and compliance. The academy will be led and delivered in partnership with Linklaters, Deloitte, KPMG, BDO, Taylor Wessing, EY and Clifford Chance.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) will also launch a new platform to help businesses access trade shows and events virtually to support international buyer-seller meetings.

The measures are part of a wider programme of support for UK tech to ensure the industry benefits from trade opportunities, including future free trade agreements (FTAs).

Julian David, chief executive of techUK, said: “As we chart a new path in the world, we must champion the UK’s competitive strengths in the digital economy both at home and abroad.

The announced package of strategic interventions will create new opportunities for UK tech companies to grow their businesses internationally. techUK supports the launch of the future tech trade strategy for UK tech industry."

The full range of measures announced today include the £8 million DTN for Asia Pacific; a new DIT platform to supercharge UK tech engagement on the global stage and mitigate the impact of firms unable to attend international industry events and investor meetings; a new network to enhance trade partnership with English regions; and an expansion in support for DIT’s High Potential Opportunities Tech Programme to drive foreign direct investment into emerging sub-sectors including 5G, Industry 4.0, Photonics and immersive technology.

The DIT also announced the launch of a new FinTech campaign in the UK, to include companies which enable digitisation and resilience in priority export markets.

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