Professor Richard Allmendinger is Professor of Applied Artificial Intelligence at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS).
He recently joined the advisory board of the North of England’s first dedicated AI fund, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund.
Run by fund manager River Capital, the AI fund will focus specifically on early-stage, high growth AI, machine learning and data science investment opportunities across the North of the UK.
He shared how a recent week in his life went…
Monday
As Business Engagement Lead at AMBS, a lot of my time is spent on the ground working with local businesses and in any given week I’ll visit a selection of those we partner with.
We help them with research and development activity, using expertise not just in my own team but across AMBS. And as part of this, I’ve recently joined the advisory board of the North of England’s first dedicated Artificial Intelligence (AI) fund, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund called fund:AI, managed by North West fund manager River Capital. It aims to identify and support businesses developing early-stage, high growth AI technology based in the North.
It’s a really exciting project – Manchester has the potential to be a hotbed of AI talent and through this fund I get the chance to work with some of the region’s most pioneering businesses. I will visit them and help them identify ways they can hone and improve their AI systems.
Tuesday
Obviously as a Professor delivering lectures and seminars is a part of my job. AMBS has recently launched a new series of executive education courses for business leaders looking to develop their skills, which I’m really excited about. Together with a colleague I’ll be running a course called ‘Data and AI for Leaders’.
The growing role of AI is undoubtedly going to change the way businesses operate and it’s important that businesses are prepared for this. My course is designed to build conceptual understanding of AI and give people the tools to utilise the systems available to them.
I also work with six PhD/DBA students and four Research Associates (RAs) with research topics all related to AI, so I will usually spend at least one day a week working with them face-to-face. Most of our students and RAs will be working in collaboration with local businesses and industry leaders so there is a lot of overlap in my roles as Professor and Business Engagement Lead.
Wednesday
Every Wednesday I’ll start my day with a swim. It’s not just a recreational activity – sometimes I run into colleagues there, which can turn into an impromptu meeting!
Being an academic isn’t a competition but a collaboration, and not just within AMBS but across the wider academic community. I’ll meet with other Fellows from the Alan Turing Institute and collaborators from AMBS and the University of Manchester, other universities, and industry to discuss the work that we’re doing to see how we can support each other. I’ll often review papers from other academics, engage in editorial duties for journals, and mentor junior colleagues too.
I also host and take part in a number of conferences and other academic and industry events, and I’m Vice Chair of the Bioinformatics and Bioengineering Technical Committee at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It’s always fascinating to hear the thoughts of other leaders in their fields and to facilitate a discussion where we can all share our knowledge and insight.
Thursday
While research takes up a lot of time, I am also dedicating a large proportion of time to applying for research funding. Usually we’ll apply for around 10 different types of funding over the course of a year, and it requires a lot of planning and strategic thinking.
Preparation for the application will start months in advance – I will build a team with the right expertise, and we will work together to draft the proposal, before it is scrutinised by other members of the Business School and the University of Manchester.
These are so important to the work we do – to give you an idea, at this moment in time I am involved in active projects worth a total of £34.5m, and have bids totalling around £12m worth of funding under review.
Friday
I will dedicate one day a week to work with colleagues and the University of Manchester’s Innovation Factory on commercialising business ideas, personal development, and various other service and leadership roles that I hold in AMBS and wider university.
To ensure the commercialisation goes well, we’ll work on exploring what intellectual property is already held, and develop a business plan to ensure it is commercially viable too. It’s a fantastic way to promote the work that’s being done here in Manchester and ensuring it’s being utilised to the benefit of others.
It is easy to get lost in the routine. I embark on at least one personal development project a year to help me think outside the box. For example, at the moment, I am doing a year-long module on Innovation Research, which can become handy in various aspects of my work.
