The University of Bradford, home to the MSc programme in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data analytics and a key seat of AI research, is launching a new programme to help its students translate their university projects into new businesses.
Bradford will open an innovation hub this September to help students with every step in starting and growing a business, from ideation, proof of concept and understanding legal responsibility to delivering pitches and accessing different types of finance. The university is strengthening its ties with local business groups and lenders to support its Accelerated Student Entrepreneurship Programme (ASEP).
Professor Zahir Irani, deputy vice-chancellor, said: “Bradford became a textiles capital in the first Industrial Revolution and now it is emerging as the destination of choice for AI graduates. We want people to bring their great ideas to Bradford and use our ecosystem to study AI and build scalable deep tech businesses.”
The university launched its applied AI and data analytics course in 2020 in response to widespread industry skills shortages. It has won £1.4 million in government funding in total to design and progress the course and offer up to 80 scholarships to the most disadvantaged students.
The programme has so far attracted backing from 21 industry partners providing in-kind contributions totalling £2.8 million. Scholarship recipients will all gain valuable paid placement opportunities to help them gain valuable work experience whilst offering placement providers an opportunity to recruit new talent.
According to latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Bradford had 285 postgraduate enrolments for the course in 2021-22. Applications for the September 2023-24 course closed in January 2023 due to high demand.
Prof Irani added: “Most MSc programmes in AI sit within computer science or engineering departments and tend to be for graduates from those disciplines with a high level of mathematics, and are all about optimising algorithms. We take a very different approach at Bradford, as the software for AI is already here and widely available. Our programme sits within our School of Management and is designed to support students to define and scope problems and to use technology to provide solutions to problems.
“Bradford has long been a disruptor. After King’s College London launched its war studies department in the Sixties, we launched our peace studies department, which has produced some notable alumni, including the Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat.”
March data from the Higher Education Statistics agency revealed that Bradford has the most postgraduate enrolments in applied artificial intelligence and data analytics in the UK.
