Blair and Hague call for UK to spearhead new era of robotics
9 October 2024 
The former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the former leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague, have released a report arguing that the UK should spearhead a new wave of robotics which, they believe, could benefit the British economy and society as a whole. “Failing to act now will result in other countries reaping the largest economic benefits, with the UK having little influence over how the technology is regulated,” they warn. “Lagging behind in robotics would also pose a serious risk to national security.”
The report, A New National Purpose: The UK’s Opportunity to Lead in Next-Wave Robotics, is one of a series published by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2023, arguing that the world is undergoing the fastest technological and scientific revolution in history. The reports call on British political parties to respond to this revolution with a new national purpose. “The challenge of responding is so urgent, the risk of falling behind other countries so great, and the opportunities so exciting, that nothing less will do.”
The new paper argues that robotics “will become increasingly central to the future of our country,” with AI-enabled robotics having the potential to transform the economy, public services and daily life.
“Robotics is one of the key technologies for which greater state support will be necessary,” Blair and Hague say, pointing out that the UK has the least advanced robotics sector of the G7 countries. “However, the fact that robotics increasingly intersects with AI – where the country does have strengths – gives Britain an opportunity to catch up.” The report sets out how “the new government can seize this opportunity and realise the transformative long-term benefits of robotics by addressing challenges across innovation, commercialisation and governance.
“Many countries have woken up to the fact that robotics will become increasingly critical to their place in the world, profoundly impacting their national resilience and security, their responses to demographic challenges, and the projection of their values and influence on the world stage,” the report states. “The UK, meanwhile, has failed to produce a national strategy for robotics and deprioritised the technology to focus on other areas. The current government must avoid the mistakes of previous governments in misunderstanding the importance of robotics to the future of the UK. Instead, it should position the country at the forefront of this emerging wave of technology.”
To achieve this, “the government must take action now to help cultivate and drive the innovation required to realise the transformative longer-term opportunities of robotics – and to avoid falling behind other major countries around the world. At the same time, action should be taken to capitalise on the near-term gains of better deploying existing technologies across the economy. This will mean leveraging the UK’s strengths in AI software, while mitigating its weaknesses in robotics hardware.
Blair and Hague argue that “this can be done through additional investment and action that explicitly addresses the structural barriers to developing and commercialising these technologies in the UK.”
Among other things, they are calling for:
- The creation of a £100m Robotics Investment Programme providing follow-on funding to support early-stage and growth-stage robotics start-ups.
- A review of Government investment programmes for robotics research, reallocating some funding from the UKRI for new approaches, including a network of National Robotariums, and grant funding for creating open-source, modular software and hardware, to help researchers and start-ups to develop more complex robotics in less time at lower costs.
- Confirmation of a £16m roll-out the Made Smarter Adoption Programme across the rest of England.
- Amending the Science and Technology Framework to include robotics and embodied AI as a sixth critical technology.
- Expanding the robotics team at DSIT by hiring more specialists in robotics software and hardware.
- Resisting any moves towards a robot tax, even if future automation leads to significant funding pressures and tax disruption.
- Supporting more people in gaining expertise in robotics through engagement projects with school children, piloting a robotics undergraduate course, and introducing polymath fellowships for robotics.
- Increasing financial support for regulators, and implementing a proposed robotics secondment scheme in the HSE to act as a pilot scheme for bringing experts into regulators.
- Addressing societal concerns over robotics and automation by focusing on automating dull, dirty and dangerous tasks, and planning a retraining fund for those whose jobs are displaced by robotics.
The report concludes that the Government needs to leverage the UK’s strengths in AI software, while mitigating a relative weaknesses in robotic hardware, through reforms in innovation, pull-through and governance. “This will result in the prospect of leading in robotics and delivering a better future for the country,” Blair and Hague contend.
