Image: Yuichiro Chino, via Getty Images
Aim of interactive map is to connect artificial intelligence innovators
National funder UK Research and Innovation has launched an interactive map to connect researchers and innovators in the artificial intelligence field.
WAIFinder allows users to browse companies, funders, incubators and academic institutions involved with AI products, services, processes and research.
UKRI led the development of the freely available tool, working in collaboration with innovation agency Nesta.
Esra Kasapoglu, director of AI and data economy for funder Innovate UK, claimed the tool has “the potential to transform our economy”.
Kasapoglu said the UK was “well-positioned to be at the vanguard” of developments in AI, and that the tool could “help connect innovators with ideas and opportunities, and help shape the economy and society of tomorrow”.
Boost for transparency
Mallory Durran, director of data science practice at social good-focused innovation agency Nesta, added that the project aimed to prove that “advances in data-science techniques and the increasing quality of the open-data landscape can enable us to make important information more transparent”.
Nesta’s work with UKRI is “designed to help UK researchers, developers, funders and policymakers navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape as effectively as possible”, she explained.
WAIFinder will be hosted and maintained by Innovate UK’s Knowledge Transfer Network and will be continually updated.