£1billion investment in Northamptonshire’s AI industry

A £1billion investment in Northamptonshire has been welcomed by Professor Anne-Marie Kilday, Vice Chancellor of University of Northampton (UON), as she calls on local businesses and partners to be prepared to capitalise on the investment.

As part of the overall £31billion investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from major US firms, £1billion will be invested in Northamptonshire to boost the county’s AI capacity.

The investment is from the UK based company AI Pathfinder. Their mission is to ramp up sovereign AI through super-computing capacity at factories in the UK, with the company’s first operations coming to their Northamptonshire site in 2025.

UON’s Professor Anne Marie Kilday said: “This investment will be one of the largest the county has ever seen and we need to be ready to capture and harness the money and innovation coming into Northamptonshire.

“Working alongside our local businesses and partners we want to seize these opportunities and build on the contributions of the University to our local economy and community.

“There is no reason that Northamptonshire cannot be at the forefront of the AI and quantum computing revolutions and with the University’s strategic initiatives around automation/AI, research and degrees on offer, we are ready to play our part.”

The Government has said the Tech Prosperity Deal announced yesterday (17 September) is focused on developing the fastest growing technologies like AI, quantum computing, and nuclear energy.

In addition to generating high quality jobs in UK and US communities, the aims of the investment are to nurture new healthcare breakthroughs, boost clean homegrown energy and put the UK at the forefront of the current industrial revolution.

UON is already nurturing the talent needed to make the most of this investment through its Degree in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, UON has also embedded the use of AI throughout its curriculum, the results include AI applications in healthcare, education and therapy. As part of the University’s recently created Digital and Data Strategy, innovative work is also underway relating to AI and automation allowing academics and professional services staff to focus on high-value tasks.

To find out more about how businesses can benefit from the expertise, research and knowledge exchange opportunities at UON, visit our webpages dedicated to businesses.