UK appoints new IP minister in science, innovation and tech
Viscount Camrose becomes the new minister for AI and IP | He will serve in the government’s new science, innovation and tech department | Full details of the minister's brief.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced the appointment of a new minister for AI and intellectual property.
Viscount Camrose, whose full name is Jonathan William Berry, was appointed on March 7. He is the 13th minister in almost as many years to take on the role and will serve as parliamentary under secretary of state in the relatively new DSIT.
Viscount Camrose is a member of the House of Lords and a Conservative politician. He replaces George Freeman MP, who remains a minister of state within DSIT. Freeman had in turn reprised the role as minister responsible for IP last autumn, following an interlude between September and October last year which saw the post occupied by Dean Russell MP.
The new minister's portfolio will include all DSIT business in the House of Lords; AI; IP; and cyber. The role includes responsiblity for the UK IPO; Copyright Tribunal; Geospatial Commission; Office for Artificial Intelligence; and Ordnance Survey—all arm's-length bodies.
Viscount Camrose was previously vice chair of two All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs): Artificial Intelligence and Digital Finance.
Adam Williams, chief executive and comptroller-general of the IPO, said he was “delighted to welcome” Viscount Camrose into the role.
“The UK is consistently regarded as having one of the very best IP systems in the world, and IP has an integral role to play in unleashing our economy's creative and innovative potential.
“I look forward to working with Viscount Camrose to champion the role of IP in making the UK one of the best places in the world for new ideas and discoveries to thrive, helping cement the UK as a science and technology superpower.”
Five technologies under one roof
The DSIT, formed in January 2022, "brings together the five technologies of tomorrow—Quantum, AI, Engineering Biology, Semiconductors, and Future Telecoms, along with life sciences, space and green technologies—under one department for the first time," said the IPO. The department "will be the driving force behind HMG's [Her Majesty's Government's] commitment to growing the economy," and "IP underpins all these technologies."
The hereditary title Viscount Camrose, of Hackwood Park in the County of Hampshire, was originally created for the newspaper magnate William Berry, 1st Baron Camrose in 1941. Jonathan William Berry became the fifth Viscount Camrose in March 2022.
