On May 1st 2025, AudioStack CTO, Peadar Coyle was invited by industry group Startup Coalition to join a roundtable of senior business leaders at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) - “How DSIT and HMG are supporting innovative firms.”

The roundtable was hosted by Baroness Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at DSIT and the Department for Business and Trade - and chaired by Dom Hallas, Executive Director of Startup Coalition.

This innovation and growth-focused arm of the UK Government regularly liaises with innovators, disruptors and key opinion leaders in technology to discuss ways to promote business and reduce blockers to innovation. Groups like these directly advise and inform the direction of Government policy.

Championing growth and reducing red tape for AI innovation

As a pioneer of AI transformation, both within the UK and overseas business landscape, AudioStack has been regularly consulted as an influencer to policy in this area, particularly as a high-growth, nimble start-up. This is why we were delighted to join other like-minded start-ups and scale-ups like Darktrace, Prolific and Beam, among a select few others, who brought valuable contributions to the conversation around digital transformation.

Recognising the value of AI to deliver growth, supercharge productivity and unlock new opportunities for businesses from start-ups to the enterprises, AudioStack takes a keen interest in the policy environment for businesses that want to grow with AI solutions, and those who want to deliver them.

As such, we were happy to learn at May’s 2025 DSIT Roundtable that:

• The UK government maintains a continued commitment to champion the digital sector and we welcome the recognition from the government that startups in particular can be a significant force for economic growth.

• Reducing red tape in government came up as a priority - especially on the procurement side, but also in other sectors such as Innovate UK. 

• Other mechanisms for co-investment into startups and enhancing investment were discussed, such as pension reform and the use of the British Business Bank.

In the conversation, Peadar put a keen emphasis on safety: he discussed the explainability and robustness of our AI systems that empowers large enterprises to work efficiently and safely; our commitment to the Content Authenticity Initiative; and our drive to achieve and promote third-party security attestations such as SOC2.

With a number of positive signals coming from the government and thought leaders in business, Peadar added that:

“It was encouraging to hear how invested entrepreneurs and executives across different sectors are in digital transformation, and it was great to see the resilience and creativity of various start-ups in particular. It matters to have the input from all stakeholders, and we’re happy to have the ear of a receptive, pro-growth government. We look forward to seeing what happens in the coming months.”

AudioStack would like to extend its thanks to all facilitators and attendees, and to the Startup Coalition for the invitation.