regulators. The Government Legal Department has also partnered with the University of Oxford for the Oxford LawTech Education Programme 76 . UKRI has funded research into legal technology via its Next Generation Services Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund 77 , while Innovate UK has supported several legal technology start-ups, through its Sustainable Innovation Fund 78 , the Global Incubator Programme 79 , the Innovation Lab 80 , and other schemes. Welsh Government has also supported research in, and engagement with, legal technology. Welsh Government has undertaken or commissioned a number of reports on the legal sector in Wales (from the Justice in Wales report 81 to the Jomati report 82 and, more recently, the cmp21 report 83 on small Welsh law firms), placing an emphasis on the impact of technology on the Welsh legal sector. In 2023, Welsh Government has commissioned a Digital Adoption Survey 84 to understand how the sector is using technology and what barriers it is encountering. Further, Welsh Government has supported a wide range of initiatives to help the sector embrace legal technology, from funding for major innovation centres like the Legal Innovation Lab Wales at Swansea University 85 and the Innovation Hub at Cardiff University 86 , to support for Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essential Plus certification 87 . Additionally, Welsh Government, in its 2021-2026 programme “The Future of Welsh Law 88 ”, seeks to “explore the potential for using machine learning and artificial intelligence to make Welsh law more accessible 89 ” and has collaborated with Swansea University to organise the first hackathon on technology for legislation in 2022. 90 76 University of Oxford, “Training lawyers for a digital world”, available at https://www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/training-lawyers-for-a- digital-world. 77 UKRI, Next Generation Services Challenges (March 2022), available at https://www.ukri.org/wp- content/uploads/2022/03/5980-Next-generation-brochure-CS-v2-1.pdf. 78 Neil Rose, “Law firm and start-ups awarded government cash to develop lawtech” (2 December 2020) https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/law-firm-and-start-ups-awarded-government-cash-to-develop-lawtech. 79 UKRI, “Global Incubator Programme: business acceleration for SMEs”, available at https://www.innovateukedge.ukri.org/enter-new-markets/Global-Incubator-Programme. 80 TechUK, “New Innovation Lab launched by Innovate UK” (1 July 2019), available at https://www.techuk.org/resource/new- 83 Emma Waddingham, “Business Wales launches “critical” research on the future of small Welsh law firms” (Legal News Wales, 18 January 2023), available at https://www.legalnewswales.com/news/business-wales-launches-critical-research-on-the-future- of-small-welsh-law-firms/. At the time of writing, the report had not yet been published. 84 Emma Waddingham, “New Digital Adoption Survey for the Legal sector in Wales” (Legal News Wales, 15 May 2023), available at https://www.legalnewswales.com/news/new-digital-adoption-survey-for-the-legal-sector-in-wales/. 85 Welsh Government, “EU funding to help Law Lab deliver universal access to justice” (30 October 2019), available at https://www.gov.wales/eu-funding-to-help-law-lab-deliver-universal-access-to-justice. 86 Welsh Government, “£9.5 million new Innovation Hub to support Wales become a global leader in cyber security” (10 May 2022), available at https://www.gov.wales/new-innovation-hub-to-support-wales-become-a-global-leader-in-cyber-security. 87 Technology News Wales, “Cyber Security Company to Deliver Welsh Government-Funded Support to Wales-based Law Firms” (22 September 2022), available at https://businessnewswales.com/cyber-security-company-to-deliver-welsh-government- funded-support-to-wales-based-law-firms/. 88 Welsh Government, “The future of Welsh law: A programme for 2021 to 2026” (21 September 2021), available at https://www.gov.wales/the-future-of-welsh-law-accessibility-programme-2021-to-2026-html. 89 Ibid. 90 Legal Innovation Lab Wales, “Legal Hackathon Wales” (2022), available at https://legaltech.wales/legal-hackathon-wales- 2022. innovation-lab-launched-by-innovate-uk.html. 81 The Commission on Justice in Wales (n 1). 82 Jomati report (n 3).
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