Karen Bradley and Matt Hancock dispatched on tech-centric trade missions

Karen Bradley will travel to Finland and Sweden, while Matt Hancock is to visit Singapore and Japan

Two cabinet ministers are this week promoting UK tech overseas, with culture secretary Karen Bradley making the rounds of the tech start-up scene in the Nordic region, while digital minister Matt Hancock leads a cybersecurity trade mission to Singapore. 

Bradley will be visiting two Nordic tech hubs – Start-up Sauna in Helsinki, and Sup46 in Stockholm – where she will meet investors and technology companies. She will also call in on Ericsson, where “she will promote further cooperation” between the UK government and the Swedish tech giant in the field of 5G mobile technology. 

The culture secretary will also visit Finland’s Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, and Sweden’s Civil Contingencies Agency, where she will seek to shine a light on the UK’s credentials in these areas.

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“Britain has become an undisputed European hub for tech investment, with twice as much investment in tech as any other European country, and plans set out in our recent Digital Strategy will help make sure this continues,” Bradley said. 

Hancock, meanwhile, will be heading a UK delegation – including representatives of companies such as Deep Secure and Digital Shadows – attending the Singapore International Cyber Week event. The intention is to “showcase the UK as a world leader in digital, tech and cyber innovation”, the government said.

The digital minister will then head to Japan, where he will visit tech companies Sega and Sony to act as an advocate for the UK’s expertise in video games, artificial intelligence, and robotics.

“The UK is a world leader in cybersecurity and our industry is thriving, with exports worth nearly £1.5bn last year,” he said. “I’m determined to help the next generation of firms grow as we build a truly global Britain, and hope to make real progress by leading a delegation including some of the nation’s most innovative businesses.”