The safety tech sector is expected to be worth £1bn by the mid-2020s, according to a new government analysis.
In an independent report on the sector, published by the science and tech department, it was revealed that the safety tech industry has grown significantly in the past year.
The report estimated that the total sector revenue for the most recent financial year reached £456m, an increase of £75m since the year before.
Because of this growth, the report estimated that the sector is on track to hit £1bn in annual revenues within the next three years, based on its average compound annual growth rate.
There are currently 3,300 full-time employees in the sector, an increase of 16% from the year prior, the report found.
“In the last four years, the sector has continued to go from strength to strength,” said Paul Scully, minister for tech and digital economy.
“This research now finds over 130 safety tech businesses active in the UK, with strong capabilities in areas such as age assurance, brand and platform safety, digital forensics, content filtering, and detecting and countering societal issues such as fraud and disinformation.
“This breadth of technology helps to keep the UK at the forefront of tackling online harms, and ensures that our digital economy and tech platforms have the tools they need to keep users safe online.”
The analysis comes as the government continues to develop the Online Safety Bill, which would give greater authority to regulators in policing harmful content online.
The heavily delayed bill has picked up a number of controversies throughout its development.
Earlier this year, Wikimedia UK, part of the organisation responsible for Wikipedia, said that the bill in its current form would be impossible to manage. The group said the amendment that would require all content changes to the website to be approved by a barrister.
Messaging apps, including WhasApp and Signal, have also criticised the bill. The apps’ concerns lie with potential threats to encryption in communication for the sake of openness.
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