Swindon & Wiltshire News
Bristol rides the AI wave with the launch of AI West
A new organisation championing the West’s AI practitioners was launched in Bristol on Tuesday at a packed event that attracted industry, academic and technology experts.
AI West is billed as the new representative body for the sector, and aims to promote the region as a centre of excellence in AI while contributing to our economic growth.
The launch event featured contributions from EY, Graphcore, Taught by Humans, Data Cubed, Collective Intelligence, and the University of Bristol.
The brainchild of Abraham Mauleon Amieva, research associate at the University of Bristol and founder of the Digital Skills Institute, and Ayush Joshi, lecturer in data science at the University of Bristol, the community is specifically focused on facilitating and improving university and industry partnerships.
Abraham said: “The University of Bristol has been established in AI academia since the 1970s and arguably boasts some of the strongest credentials across UK Universities, such as a new AI CDT in Practice-Oriented AI, to start in September 2024 and national resource Isambard-AI supercomputer which is being designed and hosted in Bristol.
“As a result, we’ve started to see more B2B collaborations with the University, but it’s time to solidify and optimise those relationships.
“While the university has much to learn from practitioners, industry partners can equally benefit from the research, innovation and talent coming out of academia”.
Ayush added: “Tuesday’s event was a testament to the appetite in the market to learn and upskill in these emerging technologies.
“Attendees were provided with recent industry adoption data, implementation best practice and inspiration from businesses built around the tech. Ultimately, anyone joining our community will have the opportunity to see what’s cutting edge, while accessing funding information and building connections with like-minded individuals”.
FinTech West director Stuart Harrison, who has joined the AI West steering group, said: “Businesses in the region are at all stages of adoption.
“Some may be looking to implement the technology but not know how to get started, others may be experimenting but not yet be confident about making the most of the tech.
“AI West is set up to help organisations that are simply interested, already exploring it or those already using AI.”
Following the success of the launch, a series of events is being planned for the rest of the year.
Pictured: Abraham Mauleon Amieva and Ayush Joshi, founders of AI West
