UK and France partner on navigation systems to protect critical infrastructure from hostile threats

UK and French researchers join up to shield critical infrastructure, including power supplies and emergency services, with more resilient navigation and timing systems. 

UK and French experts will work more closely to increase the resilience of both countries’ critical infrastructure to the signal-jamming seen in the war in Ukraine, as part of a suite of joint science and tech work being announced today (Thursday 10 July).

From our electricity infrastructure, to transport, to financial transactions, the tech we rely on for everyday life depends on reliable Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), often provided via satellites. The conflict in Ukraine has shown how new technologies – in some cases, just small hand-held devices – can be used to disrupt PNT services, potentially causing major disruption to the vast areas of life and the economy reliant on them.

As part of a raft of UK-France joint science and tech efforts being announced today, researchers from both countries will work together on technologies complementary to the likes of GPS, which are highly resistant to this sort of jamming.

An example is e-LORAN, a program driven by the UK government, working closely with the National Physical Laboratory and private sector companies. The system uses ground-based radio towers, which are much more challenging to block, for a reliable “backup” to GPS, so that UK infrastructure can keep running even when GPS fails.

The UK’s Science and Tech Secretary used a joint visit to Imperial College London, with President Macron, to set out how this sort of collaboration makes both the UK and France stronger and safer. Whilst speaking at Imperial, Peter Kyle also pointed out the tens of millions of pounds in investment being brought into the British tech sector through UK-French trade, as well as the new jobs and growth that this partnership creates.

These are efforts that will bolster our economic and national security, which are foundational pillars of the Plan for Change.

UK Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle said:

France and the UK both have huge ambitions for technology to boost economic growth and strengthen national security. It is vital we work with natural partners like our French neighbours in these endeavours, particularly as the threats from hostile state actors only grows.

Today we build on the Entente Cordiale with an Entente Technologique, celebrating and renewing our longstanding and historic partnership so that together we can face down the challenges of tomorrow.

Additionally, the UK and France are launching a partnership on supercomputing. The partnership will be led by the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, the home of Isambard-AI, and the French computing centre GENCI, who lead France’s AI Factory.

Closer ties between both nations’ world-leading compute power, and sharing AI best practice, will turbocharge the breakthroughs in AI, transforming public services and improving lives. These efforts build on the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the UK government’s blueprint to fuel the use of AI across the economy.

This builds on the strong existing UK-France cooperation on AI. The UK’s AI Security Institute and France’s INESIA have committed to further technical workshops to deepen their collaboration on frontier AI research, in order to support our national security.

Some of the UK and France’s leading research institutions are also committing to closer work. Collaboration agreements were signed today when President Macron and Science and Tech Secretary Peter Kyle visited Imperial College London, where they witnessed first-hand some of the cutting-edge uses of AI being pioneered in the UK, from health to clean energy.

The spotlight will shine on the vast opportunities for UK-France science and tech collaboration again on Friday, when the UK’s AI Minister Feryal Clark and her French counterpart Minister Clara Chappaz will tour Diamond Light Source in Oxford.

Diamond is one of the most advanced scientific facilities in the world. Researchers here are harnessing light 10 billion times brighter than the sun to study new scientific samples, like previously unknown virus structures, to pioneer new medicines and treatments for diseases.

Notes

The 3 UK-France science and technology agreements being signed are between:

• Imperial and CNRS Ayrton Blériot Engineering Lab (ABEL)
• University College London (UCL) and National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria)
• Oxford-Cambridge and HEC, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Université Paris-Saclay

UK-French export and investment announcements

British tech unicorns are winning tens of millions of pounds in significant contracts with French corporates, driving jobs and growth at home. This includes Synthesia’s new partnership with Decathlon to create a pioneering AI avatar lab which the global sports retailer will use to communicate with customers and employees, building on Synthesia’s existing work with over half of France’s CAC40 (equivalent to FTSE 100). Other deals include ElevenLabs’ collaboration with M6 and TV5 Monde and Darktrace’s contract with GL Events, a French major events operator.

BT’s operations in France totalled approximately £130 million last financial year, connecting more than 80 French-headquartered companies, from Alstom to Michelin. BT has supported French telecoms, communications, cyber security and banking operations for 55 years. BT has invested more than £24 billion domestically so far this decade, with plans to invest a further £20 billion by 2030. BT’s investment into digital infrastructure projects also boosts the UK’s attractiveness for French investment and act as an enabler of British exports to France.

Thales, in conjunction with partners, is planning £40 million of AI-focussed R&D investment as part of its CortAIx UK AI Accelerator – which will employ 200 people and serve as a focal point for Thales’ AI innovation in the UK. This initiative will further enhance AI cooperation between France and the UK, ss well as help both countries to stay ahead of evolving threats, unleashing the potential of AI to increase mission success for both countries.

Comand AI are investing £35 million over the next 5 years to set up an office in the UK, in their first step to becoming a pan-European defence company. This investment will create around 40 highly skilled jobs in tech, bringing the best of software engineering to defence. These jobs would represent half of their global engineering team. They aim to build the future of defence technology between the UK and France, from capability assessment to mission planning and execution for our Allied nations.