£20m investigation in AI opportunities

A £20M scheme to investigate how artificial intelligence and data science can transform UK services industries will be launched this month.

Loughborough University is one of three academic institutions tasked by the Government to look at using artificial intelligence to increase processing times, improve customer engagement and unlock new potential in accountancy, legal and insurance services.

Professor Alistair Milne and Professor Chris Holland of the School of Business and Economics will lead one of three projects, Technology Driven Change and Next Generation Insurance Value Chains, which aims to identify and map the opportunities for AI-based innovation in the UK insurance industry.

Prof Milne said: “Our £1.23m project investigates the application of new data technologies such as AI, machine learning and distributed ledgers using the explosion of available data including from social media and the connections to the ‘Internet of Things’.

“Working closely with some of the major UK insurance firms, we will examine how these technologies are changing business processes and business models in underwriting and risk analytics, claims processing and in customer engagement, examining the barriers to adoption and the enablers of change.”

Services account for almost 80 per cent of the UK economy, with financial and professional services alone employing around 2.2 million and valued at £190 billion.

The study is part of the Next-Generation Services Challenge (NGSC) that also supports projects at the University of Oxford and University of Sheffield.

The three new research projects are backed by £3m through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) – a Government scheme to strengthen UK science and business innovation – and will be led by UK Research and Innovation.