The UK government is attempting to future-proof the AI skills base with funding to foster skills, including postgraduate research centres and scholarships.
Because of the pace of change in AI development, it is considered important that the UK cultivates the top AI research talent to drive progress in crucial areas like AI safety, and to ensure the whole country can feel any gains that AI will unlock.
The UK government states, “This will ensure the country has the top global expertise and fosters the next generation of researchers needed to seize the transformational benefits of this technology.
This includes naming, for the first time, the further 12 Centres for Doctoral Training in AI that will benefit from £117 million in previously announced government backing through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), while a new visa scheme will make it easier for the most innovative businesses to bring talented AI researchers in their early careers, to the UK.
This is on top of funding for 15 science and technology scholarships at some of the UK’s universities, a £1 million grants scheme to help top AI talent relocate to the UK, and the pilot of a new STEM Olympiad scholarship scheme ‘Backing Invisible Geniuses’. It builds on a further £8.1 million recently announced, for postgraduate course scholarships in AI and data science”.
See: Britain to be made AI match-fit with £118 million skills package - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For the first time, government departments have set individual targets for how much they will spend with small and medium-sized businesses (SME). In total, the government plans to spend £7.4 billion a year with SMEs by 2028.
For shareholders of owner-managed companies, dividends are still one of the most tax-efficient ways to take money out of the company. But with these increases coming in, it will be worth taking a fresh look at your extraction strategy.
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