Five British technology start-ups exhibited at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool this week, using a dedicated stand in the Labour Tech Zone to put their products in front of ministers, MPs, journalists and delegates. The trade body that organised the presence, the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), said the aim was to make policymakers come to the companies rather than the other way round.

The conference occupies several large arenas and surrounding areas of the city for five days, with roundtables, policy sessions and demonstrations running through each day. ACT, which has attended for several years, said the growing political focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) prompted a change of approach this year.

The exhibiting members were Stars Edge, Twelve Oaks Software, My Print Pod, Footfalls and Heartbeats, and AI in Schools. Their products cover space technology, artificial intelligence, education, robotics, app development, gaming, care technology and sustainable 3D printing.

ACT co-hosted a panel with the New Statesman at which two of the members debated policy with Kanishka Narayan, the Minister of State for AI, Dame Chi Onwurah, who chairs the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee, and Gordon McKee, a Labour MP with a background in app development. Stephen Tulip, ACT's UK country manager, said the audience was large and engaged, and that the three politicians showed a firm commitment to improving conditions for smaller firms.

Artificial intelligence dominated the technology agenda across the week. Discussion centred on how the benefits of the technology could be spread across the country and on what part the UK can realistically play in shaping global rules. Mr Narayan is likely to have been among the busiest figures at the event, having spoken at more than 70 sessions.

Access to capital was the main concern raised by the exhibiting founders, particularly for companies that want to stay in the UK as they grow. ACT has published a report, Funding the Founders, containing eleven recommendations drawn from roundtables with SMEs around the country. Government procurement features prominently. ACT argues that a public contract benefits a small company twice. It provides predictable revenue that can sustain a young business, and it signals viability to private investors. The organisation wants the contracting process made easier for small suppliers to enter, and says better access to funding would help keep emerging technologies and their strategic value in Britain.

Regulation also featured in conference discussions. Ministers described an approach that favours proportionate, evidence-based intervention while keeping an emphasis on growth. ACT members are following with interest the Prime Minister's announcement in his leader's speech of closer alignment with the EU. Lower costs and fewer barriers to trade would be welcome, according to ACT, but the group warned that alignment must not lead to the UK adopting EU measures such as the Digital Markets Act and the AI Act. It argues that the current UK approach to digital regulation has worked well and should be preserved.

The Prime Minister's speech also set out a wish for the UK to develop a new global code on AI, intended to capture the technology's benefits while addressing its risks. ACT said it is waiting to see how such a code would affect small companies that deploy AI in their operations or build new AI products.

Mr Tulip said the members who attended came away encouraged by the enthusiasm for start-ups and domestic innovation among the policymakers they met. He set out the measure by which ACT intends to judge progress. At next year's conference, it will ask whether the UK has become a materially better place to scale and grow a business, with start-ups and SMEs as the focus.

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