The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced the opening of  the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre in Oxfordshire, a state-of-the-art facility capable of producing up to 250m mRNA vaccine doses annually. The facility forms part of Moderna's £1bn UK research and development investment through a ten year government partnership. The centre will support around 150 highly skilled jobs and focus on developing vaccines for seasonal viruses and diseases such as cancer.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced that G7 countries have agreed a set of shared principles to strengthen children's online safety. The principles require digital services to incorporate child safety measures by design, supported by effective age assurance, and encourage greater cooperation between online service providers, children, parents and guardians. G7 members also agreed to improve data sharing between online platforms, parents and researchers to better understand the impact of digital services on children's wellbeing.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced a new Telecoms Consumer Charter aimed at preventing unexpected mid-contract price rises. New signatories include BT, Virgin Media O2, VodafoneThree, Sky and TalkTalk. The Charter follows intervention by the Chancellor and the Technology Secretary on 11 February 2026. It requires providers to offer clear pricing and upfront information about any future price changes, reflecting a collective ambition to go further by ensuring transparency, supporting those who are struggling to pay and strengthening trust so that consumers can continue to benefit from excellent services at fair prices. The Charter also makes social tariffs easier to access. Ofcom has said these tariffs could save eligible households up to £220 per year. Under the Charter, providers will signpost social tariffs more clearly, support customers facing financial difficulty and allow customers to switch to cheaper plans without penalty. Alongside this, the government has launched a Mobile Market Review to examine how best to support long-term investment in the sector and deliver standalone 5G to all populated areas by 2030. Industry bodies, including ISPA and INCA, have welcomed the Charter, saying it will strengthen consumer confidence, support network investment, and improve coverage, service quality and value.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), alongside the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Ministry of Justice, has announced UK participation in the AI Impact Summit in India from 16 February 2026. The UK delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and AI Minister Kanishka Narayan, will focus on AI applications in public services, employment creation and global development. The government has announced three new initiatives under the £58m AI for Development (AI4D) programme: an Asian AI4D Observatory supporting responsible AI innovation across South and Southeast Asia, a Masakhane African Languages Hub enabling AI functionality in 40 African languages, and an AI4D Compute Hub at the University of Cape Town providing computing infrastructure for African innovators. The announcement states that since summer 2024, the government has attracted over £100bn in private investment to the UK's AI sector. The summit builds on previous AI summits at Bletchley, Seoul and Paris, with discussions aimed at ensuring AI benefits extend beyond advanced economies to developing nations.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced that the UK AI Security Institute (AISI) and the Australian AISI have entered into a memorandum of understanding to strengthen co-operation on AI security and safety risks. Under the agreement, the UK and Australian AISIs will share information on frontier AI capabilities, collaborate on research into emerging risks and develop best practices for testing and evaluating AI systems. The partnership will also support staff exchanges between the two institutes to enhance day-to-day collaboration.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and AI Safety Institute have announced that the UK and US have entered into a partnership which will see them work together to develop tests for the most advanced AI models, systems and agents. The UK and US Safety Institutes have agreed to build a common approach to AI safety testing and to share capabilities and information to ensure any present or emerging risks can be tackled effectively. This partnership will take effect immediately.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced that the Online Safety Act 2023 will be amended to make content that encourages or assists serious self-harm a priority offence. The change will place stricter legal duties on technology companies to prevent such content from appearing online, requiring platforms to proactively identify and remove it for users of all ages. The amendment extends protections beyond children to include vulnerable adults and compels platforms to use advanced technology to detect and eliminate harmful material before it reaches users. A statutory instrument to implement the change is expected to be laid in autumn 2025, with the regulations coming into force 21 days after they are made, subject to approval by both Houses of Parliament.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced that British artificial intelligence (AI) experts will join government as part of its digital transformation agenda to modernise public services and support national security. Backed by a US$1m investment from Meta and delivered through the Alan Turing Institute, the AI fellows are intended to develop open-source tools for public services, including transport maintenance models using image and video analysis and AI systems designed to operate offline or within secured networks to support automated decision making while safeguarding sensitive data. The announcement also confirms a partnership with Anthropic to build and pilot an optional AI assistant for public services, beginning with job seekers, providing career advice and employment support, with safeguards intended to ensure secure use of emerging technologies across government systems.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced a £210m Cyber Action Plan setting out measures to strengthen cyber resilience across government and the wider public sector. A new Government Cyber Unit will coordinate cyber risk management and incident response across departments, improving oversight of cyber and digital resilience risks and supporting faster, more coordinated responses to incidents.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced new default online safety protections for 16 and 17-year-olds. Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, said that social media platforms will introduce overnight curfews from midnight to 6am and automatically disable features that encourage prolonged use, such as autoplay and personalised recommendation feeds. The measures are intended to ensure there is no reduction in protections when young people turn 16, while allowing older teenagers to change the default settings if they choose. The government said the proposals follow a pilot involving more than 300 teenagers and parents, which found that overnight curfews became part of family routines and were associated with improved sleep and concentration.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has launched a 12-month Open-Source AI Fellowship programme funded by a $1m Meta grant to the Alan Turing Institute. Starting January 2026, fellows will develop open-source AI tools for public services, focusing on high-impact areas including planning and regulatory tools trained on UK law for faster decision-making, secure AI for sensitive documents and offline emergency response systems. The programme builds on existing AI implementations, such as the Caddy system which has demonstrated 50% reduction in response times across six Citizens Advice call centres.

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) has announced that the seven governments participating in the Global Coalition on Telecoms (GCOT), namely the UK, US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Sweden and Finland, have launched the 6G ‘Security and Resilience Principles’ at Mobile World Congress 2026. DSIT states that the next generation of mobile networks, 6G, is beginning to take shape amid developments such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud technologies, integrated sensing and communication, open interfaces, and the integration of terrestrial and satellite networks.