The pitch to beat the backlash
Plus Microsoft on Britain's power issues.
Good morning from a pink sky in Berlin, and many thanks to the reader I bumped into at a party who saved today's newsletter by lending me a power adapter.
Today, we've got an interview with Microsoft's top lobbyist explaining the decision to pullout from Nscale's Essex data centre.
Sticking with data centres, Era4 pitched itself as a community champion for Newport at an Nvidia GTC event last night, while the government is also making a big skills announcement this morning.
Economic growth is Britain’s priority, but it is easy to overlook how much of our economy is built on small businesses.
According to Shopify, UK businesses on its platform generated more than £70 billion of economic activity last year and supported 479,000 jobs. Its data also shows UK exports are booming.
These insights are published on Shopify’s new global data hub, The Entrepreneur Effect.
For anyone working on the growth or tech agenda, it offers a useful look at where jobs are actually coming from.
Happening Today 📆
NEET-ly done: DCMS is announcing 10,000 work experience placements as it opens the TechFirst programme to all secondary schools. Over the next decade, around 800,000 digital and technology roles will need filling and it wants 200,000 of those to be entry-level jobs, according to the Digital and Technologies Jobs Plan it also published this morning.
Wise words: Sage, meanwhile, launches a report in Parliament on the rise of “solopreneurship”. Its research shows that while paths to employment are harder, youth self-employment is at its highest level for a decade as AI tools make it easier for young entrepreneurs to set up on their own.
Berlin-London: Nvidia's Jensen Huang gives his keynote speech at GTC in Berlin, starting at 11am UK time. Microsoft, meanwhile, brings its AI tour to ExCeL London. Reporter Amelia Isaacs is there for us.
Nothing ventured: The Public Accounts Committee is recommending the government takes stakes in startups, rather than just supporting them with grants. In a report out this morning, the MPs, whose job is to scrutinise public spending, urges a bolder approach from UKRI.
Miss you: MPs on the Science and Technology Committee look at the impact of the abolition of DSIT on tech policy at 9:30am. Ministers Chris McDonald, Liz Lloyd and Kanishka Narayan give evidence alongside top civil servants Ollie Ilott, Alexandra Jones and Sarah Connolly.
In today's edition:
🤝 Era4's boss calls for a new "social contract" on AI infrastructure
🚪 Why Microsoft walked away from Britain's biggest data centre.
