UK leads the world in providing tech to keep us safe online
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New research reveals that UK firms have 25% market share in global
safety tech sector the sector has seen a 20% boost in earnings in
the last year alone, now with 3,300 full-time employees the
government is providing £350,000 to help safety tech start-ups
scale their work in identifying child sexual abuse material The
UK’s safety tech sector, which develops solutions to keep people
safe online, has seen a rapid expansion in the past year, with new
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The UK’s safety tech sector, which develops solutions to keep people safe online, has seen a rapid expansion in the past year, with new analysis published today by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The Safety Tech Sector 2023 analysis found that the UK’s 130-firm strong sector has seen a 16% increase in the number of full-time roles in safety tech and secured £64 million of investment in the last year – supporting the government’s priority to grow our economy and create new jobs. To further support this burgeoning industry, which holds a world-leading 25% of the international safety tech market, DSIT is also announcing today that over £350,000 will be shared between three UK safety tech firms to further develop tools to identify and combat the sharing of links to child sexual abuse material online. Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy Paul Scully MP said: The UK’s safety tech sector is not only delivering on our priority to grow the economy and create jobs but holds the world-leading expertise needed to support our ambitions to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online – for both children and adults. With a quarter of the world’s safety tech firms thriving in the UK, it’s a shining example of the rapid progress we are making to becoming a tech superpower by 2030. The funding comes as the second iteration of the Department’s Safety Tech Challenge Fund which is run in partnership with the Home Office and GCHQ, and delivered by Innovate UK. The three projects, which will run until the end of February 2024 before presenting their results to DSIT, are:
Sector revenue has grown by 20% just in the last year, and is on track to hit £1 billion by the mid 2020s. From being able to detect and help to prevent online fraud, providing technology to conduct age assurances, the UK safety tech sector provides platforms and people with the tools they need to keep online spaces safe. These technologies support the government’s ambitions to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online, while defending the right to free expression and securing the UK’s leadership in the fight against online harms. As part of these ambitions, the government has developed the Online Safety Bill, a world-leading piece of legislation that hold technology companies accountable for keeping their users, particularly children, safe. Will Dury, Interim Executive Director Digital and Technologies at Innovate UK said: Innovate UK are delighted to partner with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and GCHQ on this important programme. Our innovative companies have a huge part to play to ensure that the UK is kept safe online and that the most vulnerable in society are protected. The UK is home to some of the world’s most innovative companies and with Innovate UK’s help they can create new products and services which support regulation, and allow our digital sector to benefit the economy and society. Notes for editors Ian Stevenson, CEO, Online Safety Tech Industry Association said: I’m delighted to see this study confirm continued growth in the sector with more safety tech companies created and rapidly growing revenues. As many OSTIA members face headwinds from the challenging macro investment landscape, I’m glad to see the support the UK government has offered the sector, and hope government will continue initiatives to promote building and growing great online safety tech companies in the UK. I expect to see the rapidly changing regulatory environment in the UK and elsewhere driving growth in the sector globally in the next few years, and I’m excited that the UK is at the heart of the opportunities this creates. John-Orr Hanna, Chief Intelligence Officer of Crisp said: The UK Safety Tech Sector and Crisp have experienced significant growth in response to the increasing need for online platforms to safeguard their users. Crisp is proud to support initiatives like the Safety Tech Challenge Fund in collaboration with fellow UK Safety Tech companies. Now a Kroll business, Crisp has expanded its industry leading integrated risk intelligence capabilities to cover online harms with cyber, forensic investigations and regulatory compliance services. We look forward to continuing our work with UK and Global partners to ensure a safer online world for all. Sasha Haco, Co-founder and CEO of Unitary said: The UK Safety Tech Sector is a rapidly growing ecosystem, aiming to tackle some of the biggest challenges of today’s society. At Unitary, we are on a mission to build a safer online environment through AI models capable of understanding and detecting harmful content. With video content accounting for over 80% of online traffic, moderation becomes increasingly challenging. This year, we have assisted platforms, both large and small, in effectively moderating millions of online videos. Marija Manojlovic, Safe Online Director at End Violence Against Children: I am encouraged to see the efforts and results of the UK Safety Tech Challenge Fund in building technology capabilities to protect all users, particularly children and young people online. Initiatives such as these are critical for to promote innovative, multi-stakeholder tech solutions to develop and strengthen a ‘safety-by design’ culture aligned to upcoming legislative and regulatory advances, but also for creating a demand and market for these tools. As Safe Online, our work is at the forefront of global efforts to make the internet safe for children – and our investments, research and technology tools have more than ever convinced us of the value of investing in collaborative and multidisciplinary efforts such as the UK Safety Tech Challenge to address some of the most complex issues surrounding safety on digital platforms. Julie Dawson, Chief Regulatory and Policy Officer at Yoti: The development of the Safety Tech Sector is critically important as we all work towards finding solutions to make the internet a safer place. Yoti was delighted to be involved in the Safety Tech Challenge Fund, showcasing how Facial Age Estimation can create age appropriate experiences online. We are now working with many businesses across multiple sectors including social media, gaming, dating and ecommerce. It’s really positive to see such strong appetite from a wide range of businesses working to create safer, age appropriate online spaces. Vicky Brock, CEO of VistalWorks said: Vistalworks specialises in risk and intelligence technologies for a different area of serious and organised crime - the identification and prevention of online illicit trade. We recognise that our work in disrupting illegal selling in its broadest sense has some important technical, data and behavioural commonalities with this Safety Tech Challenge, so we are really pleased and honoured to have the opportunity to contribute our specialist expertise and innovative spirit to this critical work. Additionally, our team has been working with some great UK clients, determined to ensure they comply with selling regulations to the highest standards, and I hope we will now be able to help them further innovate their trust and safety activities to fully comply with their new responsibilities under the incoming regulations. Dr Lakhvir Singh, Managing Director of the Centre for Factories of the Future said: The Centre for Factories of the Future is delighted to have been successful in our bid to participate in the Safety Tech Challenge Fund. The funding secured via the fund will help us to develop CSAMGuard -isan ambitious project that uses machine learning (ML) to aimed at combatting Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) link shortening and modifications. We look forward to working with HMG and developing CSAM Guard, and to help protect children and other vulnerable populations from online child sexual abuse and exploitation. Matt Burns, Founder of CameraForensics said: CameraForensics is committed to developing technology that protects children from online harm. Therefore, participating in the Safety Tech Challenge was an obvious choice for us. With the LinkForensics project, our goal is to create and evaluate cutting-edge methods for automatically assessing the risks associated with a particular link. We aim to identify whether its true purpose involves the dissemination of harmful and illegal content. By working together, we can proactively make the internet a safer place and make a significant contribution to combatting the sharing of harmful material. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Innovation Hub will provide tailored advice to UK government’s Safety Tech Challenge Fund participants on key areas of data protection compliance, continuing their supportive role from last year’s Challenge Fund. The government has supported the safety tech sector through the creation of a previous Safety Tech Challenge Fund (OSTIA) was established in April 2020, bringing together the UK’s leading safety tech companies to promote online safety innovations and solutions in the UK and overseas. In March, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology set out its commitment to invest £3.5 billion to support the future of tech and science.
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