Jonathan Walker is the Innovation Lead for Robotics and Sensors at Innovate UK. He is working with government, universities, businesses and cross-sector teams to accelerate the development and uptake of robotics in the UK. Areas of particular interest are the built environment, circular economy, and helping people live independently for longer. Jonathan wants to support these themes through cluster development, funded collaborative R&D, skills programs from school outreach, apprenticeships and T-levels to CDTs, business support and leveraging private investment.

UK city-dwellers may have spotted a strangely shaped car cruising around their neighbourhood earlier this year. It looks just like a Google Street View vehicle, with a camera rig emerging from the back end to scan its environment – and like the Google cars, it, too, is scanning and photographing city streets. But these modified Teslas aren't just taking photos. They are kitted out with state-of-the-art sensors and scanners that enable them to report back on the exact dimensions, heat loss, materials, age and state of dilapidation of every building they drive past. Armed with this so-called built environment scanning system (BESS), the cars have been on the hunt to find out how leaky and run-down the UK's building stock really is.

Oxford-based startup Lumai has been awarded a £1.1m grant from Innovate UK for its optical computing technology. Optical computers use light waves to perform computations, whereas traditional computers use electricity. Lumai is developing "all-optical neural networks" that it says are "1000x faster" compared to conventional transistor electronics. The University of Oxford spinout plans to use this approach for "next-generation" artificial intelligence (AI). "After spinning out from The University of Oxford, it's fitting that we work together on the Innovate UK project to further enhance the capabilities of these advanced optical systems," said Tim Weil, CEO, Lumai.

FrontM is on a mission to be the EDGE-intelligent app marketplace where the world goes to connect, inform and care for remote teams and customers. The innovation focuses on overcoming digital poverty in remote and isolated environments, such as the Blue Economy. The World Bank defines the blue economy as the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem." FrontM's initial use cases include the maritime commercial shipping market, particularly transforming shore-ship team collaboration, automation of workflows, crew safety and welfare. FrontM is proud to be recognised by Innovate UK and receiving a grant to study the feasibility of integration of Edge AI enablement technology from Hammer Of The Gods (HOT-G).

Due to the most recent progresses in machine learning, big data and computational power, artificial intelligence (AI) is widely accepted as having the potential to transform every industry and to overcome the biggest challenges facing society. AI may well be a revolution in human affairs and become the single most influential innovation in history. As with so many technological breakthroughs, progress in AI technologies has moved faster than society. We need a better understanding of how AI transforms our societies, who is most affected, why, and the consequences. Social and behavioural sciences will be crucial to make sense of these shifts and help us navigate them.

Machine learning operations platform Chief.AI, in partnership with the Medicines Discovery Catapult, has launched the first no-code, pay-as-you-go artificial intelligence (AI) platform for drug discovery. The project is supported by a grant from Innovate UK, and will give small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) cloud-based access to AI models and data for drug discovery, diagnostics and clinical trials. Chief.AI's platform is the first no-code service of its type in the bioinformatics space, meaning SMEs can build applications quickly and without substantial internal IT capabilities. The use of AI in drug discovery is growing rapidly, and is expected to transform the pharmaceutical industry more than any other emerging technology. Chief.AI's platform allows SMEs to affordably access cutting-edge technology to minimise the hit-and-miss nature of drug discovery and identify novel therapies with enhanced speed and accuracy, the Manchester-based company said.

Lawyers have been reluctant to engage with artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology partly because law firm partners haven't given junior staff enough time to learn how it can help them, according to a government-backed report. Funded by government agency Innovate UK, the report found widespread agreement among mainly banking and finance specialists from six large commercial firms that technology was increasingly important but that they were in the dark over what worked best. Focusing on the behavioural science questions of what motivates and inhibits lawyers' choices, legal transaction platform Legatics worked closely over two years with partners at Herbert Smith Freehills, DLA Piper and others, along with some 100 lawyers from Pinsent Masons, Osborne Clarke, Reed Smith and Eversheds Sutherland. Key findings were that 95% of all trainees and associates agreed on the importance of implementation and use of new legal tech, an assessment shared by three-quarters of partners. But fewer than four in 10 understood what was available, with a lack of time for learning or training and insufficient incentive to adopt it two main reasons.

Initiating something new, particularly in the midst of change, at the local, national and global levels, takes courage. I would also argue that truly sustainable change happens when we bring multiple perspectives, disciplines and sectors together around a challenge or opportunity. That's why UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) was formed, and Innovate UK is part of it. It invests over £7 billion a year in research and innovation by partnering with academia, industry and government to make the impossible, possible. UKRI will ensure the UK's research and innovation system is fit for the future and able to respond to environmental, social and economic change on a global scale by: This brings together researchers and innovators across disciplines and sectors including engineering and physical sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences, the natural environment, biological sciences, among many others.

Councils in the UK expect to save over £195million (€221 million) in 2020 by introducing artificial intelligence technology techniques, according to a national survey of local authorities. Financial savings, faster resolution of enquiries, freeing up staff to focus on citizen engagement and more accurate processing are the four key reasons behind the trend, revealed in a survey of unitary, borough, county and district councils carried out by local government AI and chatbot specialists Agile Datum . Councils each expect to save an average of £300,000 (€340926) in the next 12 months through greater use of artificial intelligence and another £180,000 ( €204556), on average, through the deployment of self-learning chatbots. One in six councils are anticipating savings between £750,000 (€85231 million) and £1m (1.1 million) just around the introduction of artificial intelligence technology. In all, it amounts to savings of £195m (€221 million) across unitary, borough, district and county councils in the UK.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innova@on, will invest up to £25 million in the best game-changing, innova@ve or disrup@ve ideas with a view to commercialisa@on. This compe@@on provides funding for innova@ve research and development (R&D) from feasibility (including market research), through to technology or prototype tes@ng and development stages up to (but not including) commercialisa@on. All proposals must be business focused, rather than pure research. Applica@ons can come from any area of technology (including arts, design, media or crea@ve industries), science or engineering and be applied to any part of the economy. READ MORE 4. Funding Enabling Data Access in Accountancy, Insurance and Legal Services: Innova,on Lab Deadline: noon, 20th November UKRI/ Innovate UK has just launched a new funding compe@@on as part of the Industrial Strategy Next Genera@on Services Challenge: Up to £3.5 million will be awarded to projects developing data access methods to enable the applica@on of ar@ficial intelligence (AI) and data technologies in the accountancy, insurance and legal services sector.