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The Chancellor has announced a £100 million investment in The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The investment will build on the work of the Alan Turing Institute (The Turing) to-date, helping it to bring the AI community together to address national and international challenges in areas such as:

• health
• environment and sustainability
• defence and security

The Turing is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

At the forefront

UKRI Chief Executive Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser said:

The Alan Turing Institute is at the forefront of our national AI capability and has helped to cement the UK’s position as a leader in this transformative technology.

This new investment will ensure that The Turing can continue to explore the frontiers of AI, working across the research and innovation system to deliver the UK’s AI Strategy.

The Turing was established in 2015 and has become a key feature of the UK’s AI ecosystem.

Advancing world-class research

It works with academic, industrial and government partners to advance world-class research and apply it to national and global challenges, build skills for the future and drive an informed public conversation.

Working across boundaries

It has worked successfully across disciplines, sectors and innovation boundaries, for example with the Information Commissioner’s Office through the creation of Project ExplAIn, the first and most-cited national guidance on AI explainability in the world.

In another example of impact to-date, The Turing worked with technology company Theyr to develop an algorithm that lowers ships’ greenhouse emissions by an expected 5% by planning the most fuel-efficient route.

The five-year investment will allow The Turing to build on its work to-date and follow through on the aims set out in its recently published strategy.

Grand challenges

In particular, its research will focus on three grand challenges.

Health

Building on past projects and using the UK’s unique health data sources will allow The Turing to make an important contribution to the health and wellbeing of the nation, driving more efficient and effective health for all across the UK.

Environment and sustainability

Past projects such as IceNet have shown the potential for collaborative and multidisciplinary AI and data science to deliver greater insights into the environment at lower cost than previous methods, better addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis we face.

Defence and national security

The Turing has had a long and successful record of collaboration with UK defence and security agencies as a trusted partner and convenor of diverse expertise across key areas of academia.

The challenge-led approach is backed by a commitment to fundamental AI and data science research and a programme of activity to ensure the UK has a fair digital society where data science and AI improves productivity and economic growth.

Jean Innes, Chief Executive of The Alan Turing Institute, said:

Our purpose is to make great leaps in data science and artificial intelligence research to change the world for the better and this £100 million investment will allow us to chart a new path over the next five years, working with our partners across the ecosystem to uncover solutions to society’s greatest challenges.