UKtech50 2023 winner: Michelle Donelan/Chloe Smith, secretary of state, DSIT

Industry collaboration

Announcing DSIT’s creation, prime minister Rishi Sunak set out six priorities for the department, including strengthening international collaboration on science and technology, passing the Online Safety Bill, delivering legislative and regulatory reforms, and putting public services at the forefront of innovation, with in-house science and technology capability.

Coming into her role as technology secretary, Donelan quickly understood that industry engagement would be key to the department’s six priority outcomes being successfully delivered.

In March 2023, the government introduced the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, co-designed with industry. Introducing the bill to Parliament, Donelan said the plan “seizes our post-Brexit opportunity to create a new UK data rights regime, tailor-made for our needs. The bill reduces burdens on businesses (especially SMEs) and researchers, and crucially, boosts the economy by a staggering £4.7bn over the next decade”.

However, not everyone has welcomed the bill, amid concerns that lightening the rules for UK businesses created a gap between UK law and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which they say could be problematic both for citizens and businesses.

Donelan has an “open door policy” as a minister, and sees industry engagement as a primary focus. Speaking at a data protection event hosted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), Donelan also noted that the bill is not all about industry, and that prior to the bill being published, “many commentators made the mistake of assuming that prosperity for businesses and privacy for individuals is a zero-sum game”.

She added: “I don’t see it as a trade-off at all. Successful businesses need competent consumers who are clear about what happens to their data and need to trust that it will be handled with transparency, with integrity and, of course, with responsibility.”

A short break and a new minister

At the end of April, only a few months into her new role, Donelan was required to take a break from her role as technology secretary, to focus on something even more important – the birth of her first child. As she prepared to go on maternity leave, Donelan noted that the introduction of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill was one of her proudest moments so far in DSIT.

“It will reduce cookie pop-ups, tackle nuisance calls and improve trust in data handling, while also reducing burdens on businesses and unlocking innovation,” she said on Twitter.

In 2021, the government introduced the Maternity Allowances Act, allowing ministers to take maternity leave, rather than “informal leave” – and essentially leaving their post, as ministers were previously forced to do. Taking a 10-week break, Donelan has become part of a small circle of ministers who have taken maternity leave since the act became law.

Stepping into the role while Donelan is on maternity leave is Chloe Smith, who comes with a wealth of experience, having spent her career in politics. She first became an MP in 2009, at the age of 27, making her, at the time, the youngest MP in the House of Commons.

PHOTO BY RICHARD TOWNSHEND

“DSIT has been harnessing the power of transformative science to grow a more innovative economy, with stronger businesses, better jobs and better lives for the British people”

Chloe Smith, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Since then, she has continually won the local elections in her Norwich North constituency, and has served in several departments, including as the minister for the constitution and devolution at the Cabinet Office and minister of state for disabled people, health and work at the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as leading the UK delegation at the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

With her experience, Smith is very well-placed to continue Donelan’s work, and she is proud of her department. In a speech in the House of Commons, marking the department’s first three months in existence, Smith said: “DSIT has been harnessing the power of transformative science to grow a more innovative economy, with stronger businesses, better jobs and better lives for the British people.”

She added that the department’s £2.5bn strategy on quantum tech, introduced by Donelan in March 2023, would “unlock its vast potential to the benefit of the British people”.

In May 2023, the government unveiled a national semiconductor strategy with funding to support what it sees as the UK’s unique strengths in compound semiconductors, research and development, intellectual property and design. Launching the strategy, Smith visited the world’s first compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales, getting a first-hand look at how organisations in the UK are helping to position the country as a leader in the industry.

“Britain is already a leader when it comes to researching and designing semiconductor technology,” she said during her visit to the cluster. “Our new strategy, which will create a national semiconductor centre, will double down on these core strengths to create more skilled jobs, grow our economy, boost our national security, and cement the UK’s status as a global science and technology superpower.

The future of the department

While the technology industry warmly welcomed the creation of DSIT, some wondered whether the department would really make a difference, or simply continue to wave a flag for science and technology without considering the current economic challenges faced by our country and its industry, where the digital technology sector plays a huge part.

While it may be too early to say for certain what long-term impact the department and its strong, female leadership in Donelan and Smith, will have, there is no doubt they have both hit the ground running, with the desire, clout and energy to make DSIT a success story in government. Nothing sums it up better than Donelan’s own words to Parliament: “It is just the start of a constant drumbeat.”