Sundance Multiprocessor Technology has joined Digital Catapult's Machine Intelligence Garage business incubator, in a move that will help to deepen its expertise in the deployment of AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) techniques across a diverse range of embedded systems applications. In addition to Sundance's embedded platforms optimised for running deep learning algorithms used for performing autonomous navigation and other computer vision applications, these companies are working on a range of applications that include video analytics for improved livestock welfare management, solutions for reducing greenhouse emissions, interactive podcasting and neural networking. Digital Catapult is the UK's advanced digital technology innovation centre and connects start-up and scaleup companies with large businesses, investors, government and public organisations, and research and academia. Its Machine Intelligence Garage aims to provide support in the AI/ML arena as well as provide access to the compute-intensive power needed by these enterprises to develop and test their models. It is delivered as part of London's CAP-AI project and is part funded through the European Regional Development Fund. "We started the Machine Intelligence Garage to address the challenges the UK's promising early stage AI and ML companies face, accelerating their growth and helping them realise their true potential by providing access to high-level computational power, relevant expertise, mentoring and networking opportunities," said Jeremy Silver, CEO of Digital Catapult.

The healthcare sector has been exploring applications of 3D printing for decades, but the cost and complexity of scaling the technology has stunted its path to mass adoption. Axial3D is hoping to overcome these barriers by incorporating machine learning into the process. The Belfast-based startup has developed a system that uses computer vision algorithms to automatically label CT and MRI scans and then converts the images into 3D-printed models of an individual patient's anatomy. Using machine learning to produce the models helps cut the time to create and deliver the 3D-printed files from up to eight weeks down to 24-48 hours, the startup claims. "The challenge is really to identify the anatomy within an MRI or CT scan," Axial3D CTO Niall Haslan tells Techworld.

Digital Transformation is changing the way both Defence and commercial organisations are operating in the maritime, land and air environments. Artificial Intelligence, Machine speed decision making and Virtual, Augmented and Mixed reality visualisation tools will all be part of our digital offers in the future. Thales is looking to rapidly assess these new technologies and build collaborative relationships with best of breed partners from wider markets by conducting a Maritime Pioneers day on the 24th June 2019 at the Digital Catapult in London. Thales reviewed 21 applications from some of the UK's brightest and best start-ups and scale-ups in digital technologies, down selecting the six that responded most closely to the criteria, and whose products and expertise impressed the selection panel the most. Thales is exploring novel approaches to strategic decision-making, assessing tools and techniques that are applicable and scalable across all domains.

I was at a meetup when Simon Knowles, CTO of Graphcore, was giving his talk on the latest development at Graphcore, and that is also where I met with Peter Bloomfield from Digital Catapult (@digicatapult). Peter was spreading the word about Machine Intelligence Garage which is an amazing opportunity created by a collaboration between the government and industry leaders like Google, Nvidia, AWS, etc. to help startups and small businesses access compute resources, which they would have otherwise never been able to get hold of. Sometime later, we decided to have a chat discussing the usual questions like what is Machine Intelligence Garage, what is the history, why, how, who, when, and at what stage is the program at and how do people get involved? As you would imagine, I found our conversation interesting and informative and hence decided to write about it and share it with the rest of us. Mani: Hey, Peter, great meeting you and learning about the initiative from Digital Catapult, can you please share with me the history about this initiative?

The idea of artificial intelligence, first coined in 1956, has dominated popular film (think the Matrix Trilogy or Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey) and ethical debate -- which, in the UK, is addressed by the National Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, which aims to position the UK as a world-leading force for the future of AI. This public body can't address the potential problem of ethical AI alone. To ensure that AI develops as a force for good, industry collaboration is required. Digital Catapult has released its first Ethics Framework as a means to integrate ethical practice into the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. The organisations has invited AI companies to test this framework.

From the Alan Turing Institute to DeepMind, the UK boasts a rich history and exciting present in machine learning and artificial intelligence research and development, led by academia and industry. According to recent research, AI is the largest commercial opportunity for Britain, projected to add £232 billion to the UK economy by 2030. SMEs and start-ups will play a significant role in grasping this. The segment highlighted by Theresa May during her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, where she told world leaders that the UK's strong start-up scene will be instrumental in making the UK a world leader in ethical AI. However, start-ups today still need to overcome some significant challenges before reaching their full potential.

Today Cray announced that it has partnered with Digital Catapult and its Machine Intelligence Garage in the UK to help organizations of all sizes speed the development of machine intelligence systems. This partnership enables the Machine Intelligence Garage to offer companies the supercomputing power and expertise required to develop and build machine learning and AI solutions. Our partnership with Cray opens a new door for UK machine intelligence businesses," said Anat Elhalal, Head of Technology and AI/ML Lead Tech at Digital Catapult. "Cray's expertise in high-performance computing will give startups much-needed resources to continue the amazing work already underway in the UK for AI and machine learning solutions." The Machine Intelligence Garage is a program delivered by Digital Catapult, which supports and promotes advanced digital technology and transformation to drive growth in the UK economy. The effort takes its name from the mythical place garages have in the history of technology. The Machine Intelligence Garage holds an open call every six to 12 weeks to select startups that can benefit most from the computational resources the Machine Intelligence Garage can offer from within the organization or through its partners. It then selects about 30 startups and develops for each a tailored program offering supervision, feedback and a case study of each startup's corresponding results. Based on research conducted by the Machine Intelligence Garage, startups in the UK have identified that one of their biggest obstacles to progress in AI is access to exceptionally powerful and fast computational systems," said Per Nyberg, vice president of market development, artificial intelligence and cloud at Cray. "We're seeing a convergence between AI and supercomputing as organizations work toward taking AI projects out of beta and into production. The number of AI models that must be trained will only increase and organizations are coming to realize the performance and I/O challenges that will arise. Cray's innovative architectures and robust compute resources, as well as access to our Cray Accel AI Lab, can help address these challenges and give startups the fundamental tools they need to develop successful machine learning systems and initiatives."

LONDON, UK, 3 January 2017 – Digital Catapult is proud to announce that it is the advocate UK partner involved in the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, a $5m competition challenging teams to demonstrate how humans can collaborate with AI to tackle the world's grand challenges, such as poverty, health and sustainable energy. As part of its wider strategy to support market-led technology and innovation, Digital Catapult will support IBM Watson AI XPRIZE via its technical experts as resources and mentors for competing teams. Digital Catapult will also form a hub for UK teams by hosting events, meet-ups and take a lead in helping to showcase the best competitors to come out of the UK. XPRIZE offers competitors a rare chance to work on applications using AI, machine learning, predictive technologies, robotics and other advanced technologies to develop powerful cognitive applications. Teams have the freedom to define their own goals and have the unique opportunity to potentially attract investment and compete for the main prize in the final at TED 2020.

The UK's digital landscape is changing fast and the challenges that businesses are facing are evolving every day. Digital Catapult continues to adapt to these changes, to understand the obstacles and opportunities digital companies are facing so we can best serve the community. Digital Catapult is a government funded not-for-profit organisation looking to help the digital economy grow. Part of how we achieve this is bringing together SMEs, enterprise, academics and corporates all working in the same emerging technologies to solve problems together. In August, we are running a series of workshops looking to grow new communities in Machine Learning, Smart Contracts (Blockchain), Low Powered Wide Area Networks, and VR, AR & Mixed Reality.

We recently held a heated debate at Digital Catapult; would Artificial Intelligence increase the number of jobs? In this blog post, Peter Karney, Head of Product Innovation and Darren Murphy, Digital Communities Manager, go head to head* to explore the big questions surrounding AI. Peter: AI can certainly reduce or eliminate menial activities. One example is a call centre. Currently if you need advice you'll speak to a human being; it's expensive and can be a complete waste of time. But you can put an AI system in that can learn, figure out what you're saying, and do context searches.