LONDON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Business Secretary Greg Clark Friday announced the winners of projects that will lay the groundwork for a future of robo-lawyers and flying cars.
A new 13 million-U.S. dollar fund will back projects to ensure rules and regulations to keep pace with technological advances of the future from virtual lawyers to flying cars, said the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Clark made the awards to British regulators to help drive forward innovation in the public sector and help it seize long-term opportunities including the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the future of mobility.
The Regulators' Pioneer Fund is funding 15 unique projects that will unlock the economic opportunities identified in the government's modern Industrial Strategy, said BEIS.
The grants include 1.3 million U.S. dollars for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to support a project that includes a "regulatory lab" that will bring together relevant bodies to unblock legislative and regulatory barriers to innovations like flying taxis.
Clark said: "These projects will further strengthen our regulatory system and ensure that it keeps pace with the innovation and technological advances needed to power our economy now and in the future. The focus will be on growing the large underdeveloped legal services market for small businesses and consumers, where AI and automation can have a transformative impact."
CAA director Tim Johnson said: "We will be able to give some innovators earlier guidance on proposals, allow more safe testing of new products and services and develop new regulatory frameworks for emerging technologies."
The CAA project includes building a new regulatory sandbox to allow testing of selected innovations in carefully controlled environments, and creating a regulatory lab to work with relevant organizations to develop new regulatory frameworks and policies for innovations such as flying taxis and automated systems.
The CAA's new Canary Wharf London base will also be more closely located to East London's Tech City.
