UK and Germany open first tech corridor backed by Siemens, Bosch and Allianz
Key Points
- The UK and Germany have launched their first Industrial Tech Corridor
- Allianz, Bosch, RWE and Siemens are backing the initiative
- MicroAGI will create 180 high-paid jobs in London
- Both countries will share a £17 million quantum research pot
- Quantexa will build a sovereign AI unit in Germany
The UK and Germany have agreed to launch their first Industrial Tech Corridor, alongside a £17 million joint quantum research fund.
The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade announced the deal on Thursday (8 October), as the Prime Minister visited Berlin.
The corridor aims to help tech companies in both countries strike partnerships with major industrial firms and investors, driving investment, jobs and the adoption of technologies like AI.
German heavyweights Allianz, Bosch, RWE and Siemens are backing the initiative, which sits under the Kensington Treaty, the bilateral friendship agreement between the two countries.
The department said that once fully up and running, the corridor will connect high-growth tech firms with industrial partners to help them win new business and scale up.
“Today’s agreements are great news for British tech, businesses, and workers. They mean more jobs, more investment, and more innovations that will change lives,” said Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
“Together with the UK, we’re building an ideal launchpad for AI companies to scale internationally,” said Karsten Wildberger, Germany’s Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation.
Companies commit to expansions
Munich-based robotics research company MicroAGI will expand its footprint in London, creating 180 new, high-paid jobs.
Fusion energy firm Proxima Fusion will expand its base in Culham, with the potential to quadruple its workforce at the site by 2028.
UK-based AI software company Quantexa has committed to building a dedicated sovereign unit in Germany to support the deployment of its technology in both countries.
Other companies backing the corridor include:
- Vodafone, which provides connectivity in both the UK and Germany
- Nscale, the UK-headquartered AI infrastructure company
- Isembard, the AI-powered manufacturing firm
- Celonis, the German process intelligence software company
- Codesphere, the German cloud and AI infrastructure provider
“By connecting innovative scale-ups with leading industrial companies, the Corridor can help bring new technologies into real-world applications more quickly and effectively,” said Tanja Rueckert, chief digital officer at Robert Bosch.
Quantum funding
The two countries will share a pot of €20 million (£17 million) to accelerate joint research into quantum technology.
The funding will support projects ranging from quantum computing to the technology’s use in financial services and quantum sensors.
The department said quantum sensors are already transforming understanding of conditions such as epilepsy and dementia.
The UK’s share of the funding comes from the Office for Quantum’s budget through Innovate UK.
The department said quantum computing could add more than £200 billion and around 100,000 jobs to the UK economy by 2045.
Earlier this year, the UK committed to becoming the first country to build large-scale quantum computers on its own soil by the early 2030s.
The announcement follows a £2.4 million joint UK-Germany funding call launched last month for R&D projects in clean energy, life sciences and engineering biology.
Research teams from both countries can bid for up to £350,000 each under that scheme.
Germany is the UK’s second-largest trading partner and contributes around £155 billion to the UK economy.
