If you are a business who wants to collaborate with the university on a project involving AI or data science, then we are keen to hear from you.
The AI group at the School of Computing has extensive experience working with industry with a varienty of different organisation ranging from small companies in Kent to the Ministry of Defence. Our members of staff are highly skilled in a wide range of Data Science and AI methods and keen to work with companies to solve practical problems. At any time, most members of the group are involved in some form with external stakeholders to apply their skills.
If you think that you could benefit from working with the AI group, please contact us. We can then discuss with you possible ways of collaboration and direct you to the right person to develop a project that can add value to your business.
There are a number of ways to work together. The two most important ones are:
- Consultancy:
Our members can work with you to solve specific problems facing your business. For example, if you would like to implement a chatbot for your customer service hotline, or if you need help analysing complex datasets to extract information, then a member of staff could help you do this. We can also advise you on how to use AI and Data Science to improve your business. Consultancies are usually (but not necessarily) relatively short term projects and priced on a per-day basis.
KTPs are long term projects between the AI group and your business. Such projects involve at least two academics who will supervise a PhD level associate who is embedded in your organisation. Such projects usually last for more than a year, up to 3 years. Their aim is to equip your organisation with new skills that enable your growth. Unlike Consultancies, KTPs are funded by the government. Your organisation only needs to contribute a relatively small part of the overall cost. It often happens that a KTP leads to long-term collaborations between the university and the business.
Apart from those, there are a number of other possibilitiesfor collaboration, for example collaboration in the context of Innovate UK research grants or by sponsoring a PhD student who does a research project that could be of interest to you.
Contact: James Lamprell or Dominique Chu for queries.