Event

The UK’s role in European tech sovereignty

This event hosted by UK think tank RUSI discusses how the UK and other European countries can balance public and private sector interests to achieve tech sovereignty.

Europe is enhancing its efforts to boost European tech sovereignty. The EU is a vital player in this effort, fostering tech innovation, supporting infrastructure programmes and advancing tech regulation. Yet pursuing European tech sovereignty is not necessarily exclusive to the EU and its members states; clarifying the UK’s contribution to European tech sovereignty is therefore pivotal, as the UK is a leading driver in science, research and innovation and makes significant contributions to Europe’s tech ecosystem.

Achieving tech sovereignty requires more than EU or state-led initiatives: it depends on deep, structured cooperation between governments, industry and academia. Public–private partnerships can accelerate innovation, align standards and de-risk investment in strategic technologies, while ensuring that security considerations are embedded early. However, such partnerships also illustrate how much policy initiatives rely on the private sector, from infrastructure to capital. How can governments balance competing interests and find common ground when collaborating with the private sector to secure European tech sovereignty?

Join us for a debate on the UK’s contribution to European tech sovereignty and the role that public-private partnerships play in securing economic and security benefits from tech innovation.

Speakers

Vice Admiral Andrew Burns CB OBE, RUSI Distinguished Fellow and President of Defence & Security at Sovereign AI

Bryan Rich – Senior Managing Director – Global AI Lead – Health, Public Services and Defence, Accenture

Madelaine Tuininga – Head of Economic and Trade Affairs at the EU Delegation to the UK

UK Government representative

Additional speaker to be announced

This event will be moderated by Joseph Jarnecki – Research Fellow, RUSI.