Imperial, WEF Launch AI Innovation Centre
Imperial and the World Economic Forum will partner on a new Centre that will boost AI adoption and innovation to grow the economy.
The new Centre for AI-Driven Innovation is announced by Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle during his keynote address to London Tech Week today. It will cement the UK’s global position as a leader in the technology, driving innovation by unlocking AI’s potential to transform economies across various sectors.
The Centre will leverage Imperial’s deep technological expertise, partnerships with innovators and industry leaders, and global recognition as a pioneering research institution, as well as the World Economic Forum’s curated communities, action-oriented initiatives and global recognition as a trusted platform for multi-stakeholder collaboration. In shaping national AI policy debates based on R&D, it will position the UK as a global leader in AI-enabled innovation.
The Centre will join the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) Network – a global network of 21 independent Centres which bring together public and private sectors to explore exponential technologies and drive their responsible adoption and application.
The UK Government will work with Imperial and the World Economic Forum to co-design the Centre’s activities in alignment with the government’s ambitions to harness AI to deliver a new era of growth and opportunity.
The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle said: “London Tech Week is where we lay down a marker – not just as a government with technology at the heart of our agenda, but as a country that will harness its opportunities for the global good.
“This week, we’ll have plenty more to say on how we’re using technology to drive growth, improve public services, and transform communities all over the country – delivering a Plan for Change grounded in action, not words.”
Hugh Brady, President, Imperial College London said: “This is a pivotal moment for UK innovation where the power and creativity of our science and technology can drive economic growth.
“This new Centre will unlock AI’s potential to transform existing industries and accelerate our capacity across emerging technologies including quantum computing, engineering biology and advanced materials. Anchored in the World Economic Forum global network of Centres for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the new Centre creates a powerful multi-stakeholder platform from research through to scalable real-world innovation and adoption.”
Børge Brende, President and CEO of World Economic Forum said: “We are excited to collaborate with Imperial College London and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to launch the Centre for AI Driven Innovation, the first UK-based centre in the World Economic Forum’s global Network of Centres for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This milestone comes at a pivotal moment, as AI emerges as a powerful catalyst for prosperity and accelerated transformation across all sectors of the economy. The Centre will play a key role in helping the UK shape the global AI innovation agenda, providing a unique platform for collaboration with one of the world’s largest multistakeholder communities of AI experts.”
The announcement will be made by the Technology Secretary during his keynote address to London Tech Week later today. His speech will set out the range of actions the government is taking to harness technology to boost growth, improve public services, and unlock new opportunities for communities across the UK.
During the speech, he will also announce that the Science and Technology Venture Capital Fellowship, launched by Imperial and the Royal Academy of Engineering last year, will open for a second cohort and round of applications.
The VC Fellowships are designed to enhance investor capability in identifying and deploying capital into high-potential, scalable, life science and deep tech ventures.
Professor Ramana Nanda, Associate Dean for Enterprise, Imperial Business School and Director of Imperial’s Institute for Deep Tech Entrepreneurship said: “We are proud to be working with the Royal Academy of Engineering to deliver the second year of our Venture Capital Fellowship and look forward to welcoming our new cohort. The Fellowship highlights our ambition to nurture the specialised talent that is needed to deploy greater risk capital into science and engineering-based ventures that are key to driving growth of the UK’s economy.”
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/264913/imperial-world-economic-forum-announce-centre