Thousands of graduates to become qualified experts in artificial intelligence (AI) as part of a new joint government-industry package to drive up skills in the AI sector, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright announced today.
For the first time, the UK will have a nationwide programme of industry-funded AI Masters courses coupled with work-based placements.
The new skills and talent package is a major milestone of the modern Industrial Strategy’s AI Sector Deal which was launched in April 2018. It is supported by industry funding and up to £110 million Government investment, including:
- Up to 200 new AI Masters places at UK universities funded by companies such as Deepmind, QuantumBlack, Cisco and BAE Systems. The Masters programme marks the first nationwide effort to address the skills gap at this level, in collaboration with the Industry of Coding and British Computer Society.
- 1,000 students will have the opportunity to enhance their skills with new PhDs at 16 dedicated UK Research and Innovation AI Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), located across the country.
- Up to 5 AI research Fellowships, created in collaboration with The Alan Turing Institute to both attract and retain the best research talent from around the world.
The announcement comes as new figures prepared for Tech Nation by Dealroom.co reveal the number of venture capital investments into the UK’s rapidly growing AI sector leapt by 17% last year.
