Government departments do not often provide their own lane-leaving story. BIST does.

In July 2026, the Department for Business and Trade became the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST, the Government’s official acronym) – bringing business and trade into much closer alignment with science, technology and innovation.

The change reflects a wider shift in what government support for business looks like.

BIST’s remit stretches from foundational research and emerging technologies through to helping companies start, scale, invest and export. It means looking not only at the individual parts of the economy, but at the gaps between them – between an idea and a business, research and commercialisation, investment and growth, a UK company and its next international market.

That thinking also sits behind the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy – a 10-year plan focused on increasing investment across eight growth-driving sectors and creating greater certainty for businesses making long-term decisions.

The department’s job is still to make policy, shape regulation and support trade. But its new structure makes a broader argument: science, innovation and commerce cannot do their best work in separate rooms.

Sometimes leaving your lane means removing the lines between them.