What UK Tech Policy Means for Startups in 2026

We’re diving into what today’s competition issues mean for startups and small tech companies trying to raise capital, scale, and compete globally. From AI infrastructure and technology licensing to online safety, app stores, interoperability, M&A, and digital market rules, the episode breaks down how global policy choices are shaping the environment startups need to grow.

If you’re building and scaling a tech business in the UK, 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for policy decisions that could affect how startups and SMEs grow. In this episode of Tech Swamp, ACT’s UK Country Manager, Stephen Tulip, joins the podcast to talk through some of the biggest issues on the table ahead of the Global App Economy Conference: UK, from access to funding and AI policy to app store regulation, online safety and privacy, and SEP licensing.

Age verification, digital ID mandates, and online safety rules are gaining traction globally, shaping how apps are built, distributed, and governed across markets. In the United States, Texas’s App Store Accountability Act is on hold for now, but similar proposals are still advancing and being enforced at all levels of government in the U.S., EU, UK, and more. These changes could bring higher compliance costs, added complexity, and new barriers to innovation, especially for startups, scaleups, and SMEs.

Tech Swamp is back with a timely conversation on what’s shaping curated online marketplace regulation and how some of the rules set in Europe are shaping rules worldwide. We’re joined by our EU policy manager, Maria Goikoetxea Gomez de Segura, to help break down why curated online marketplaces matter for small teams, what’s still evolving under the DMA implementation, what to watch as the EU debates digital simplification, and why standard-essential patent licensing matters as AI and IoT-related standards continue to emerge.

• We’re going global on connected health with a deep dive on how policy decisions in the U.S., EU, and UK shape whether innovators can build, deploy, and scale the tools patients rely on. We’re joined by Taylor Downs, ACT senior policy manager, for a focused conversation on the WEAR IT Act and what expanded HSA/FSA eligibility could mean for access to wearable-enabled health tech in the United States. Later on, your regular Tech Swamp hosts give a roundup of key global developments tied to standards, interoperability, and the tech policy shifts that determine whether connected health startups can actually scale at home and across borders.

We’re delivering a 2026 Tech Policy Forecast for small tech innovators around the globe. We break down what to expect from 2025 into 2026, the policy debates emerging across the EU, UK, and U.S., and how and why legislation drafted without startups and SMEs becomes a real barrier to building, scaling, and raising capital. From online safety and encryption to age verification, curated online marketplaces and competition proposals, AI governance, and the standards and SEP landscape, we map what to watch and what it means for the digital economy in the year ahead.

In this month’s episode, we’re taking you through our 2025 Tech Policy Year in Review. From encryption and age verification to competition rules, AI implementation, and the fast-moving standard-essential patent (SEP) landscape, we break down the global policy shifts that shaped the year for small developers. We’re zooming in on what changed across the EU, UK, and U.S., how these rules impacted innovation and access to capital, and what it all means for the digital economy heading into 2026.

Encryption isn’t just a privacy tool; it’s the thing standing between your personal life and the people who would exploit it. And right now, governments around the world are debating whether to weaken it. This episode breaks down why that matters. We’re joined by developer and ACT | The App Association founder Mike Sax to talk about what encryption actually does, why it’s essential for protecting kids and families online, and how current proposals in the EU, UK, and U.S. could reshape the safety of the internet itself. If encryption is the lock on your digital front door, the question today is: Why are so many people arguing to take that lock off?

Ahoy, mateys! We’re celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day with a special mini-episode. But instead of eye patches and parrots, we’re talking about real piracy...the kind that steals music, apps, and code. We’re joined by ACT | The App Association's president, (Captain) Morgan Reed, to dig into the history of Talk Like a Pirate Day and why piracy and intellectual property protections matter now more than ever, especially in the age of AI.

In the evolving age of artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and emerging technologies, the standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing process can significantly impact whether startups have a fair shot or face new barriers. In this episode, we explore how the global SEP licensing landscape affects small innovators, from their ability to launch new products and attract investment, to the risks of regulatory approaches that drive up compliance costs instead of lowering barriers. You’ll hear what’s at stake for startups and small tech in the SEP licensing space, and why getting it right is critical for the future of innovation.