Loughborough College continues to be at the forefront of technology and business development, clinching a significant grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency.
The Further Education Innovation Fund (FEIF) aims to enable further education colleges to address local business needs through unique and forward-thinking projects.
Loughborough College will provide small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with bespoke digital and AI courses finely tuned to their unique needs and challenges. This pioneering initiative will allow the College to engage with a wider spectrum of locals SMEs and revolutionise how enterprises navigate the increasingly complex digital landscape.
The Innovation AI project fits into the already growing eco-system of business support provided by the College including the Local Skills Improvement Plan’s (LSIP) Digital Upskilling programme, a collaboration with Leicester College and North Warwickshire South Leicestershire College which aims to create easily accessible, flexible short courses for Digital Skills in business. The College aims to use the FEIF to act as an “innovation skills escalator” using AI as a vehicle for businesses to evolve in the digital landscape.
Based out of Loughborough’s dedicated Careers and Enterprise Hub – a unique partnership between Loughborough College and Loughborough University – Innovation AI will deliver courses covering the fundamentals of artificial intelligence, data collection, pre-processing, machine learning, and predictive analysis.
Crafted and delivered in collaboration with industry experts, the courses will ensure local SMEs remain prepared for an ever-changing digital world. Crucially, these courses will not adhere to a one-size-fits-all approach but will be tailored to address the specific challenges faced by local businesses, ensuring maximum relevance and engagement.
Heather Clarke, Principal and CEO at Loughborough College, expressed her enthusiasm for the initiative, sharing, "Supporting innovation is a key value for Loughborough College, and we are thrilled to receive the FEIF grant in order to develop this pillar, broaden our relationship with the wider community, and support local business development.
"The Innovation AI project is a pivotal step in empowering local SMEs and fosters the sense of collaborative growth that underpins our ethos at Loughborough College. Working together with local skills stakeholders, we will help SME businesses by expanding their AI knowledge to boost their productivity and in turn enhance the local economy.”
The Innovation AI scheme at Loughborough College is one of nine further education institutions to receive a grant from Innovate UK, totalling a £7.4 million investment across the country. Other projects to be funded by FEIF will be led by Birmingham Metropolitan College, Chelmsford College, Coventry College, Glasgow Kelvin College, The Oldham College, Runshaw College, South Hampshire College Group, and Walsall College. More details about Innovate UK and the FEIF can be found here.