AI Adoption in Scotland’s Private Sector

In the first year of the AI Strategy we have discovered some of the steps and bumps that businesses may encounter on their AI journey. As we move into the second year of the Strategy, which aims to ensure that Scotland maximises the potential economic and social benefits of AI, this will help to inform the Scottish AI Alliance’s next steps. 

In this blog John Fotheringham from the Scottish AI Alliance Support Circle and Lily Broomhead, Francela Rivas López, Hardy Liang, Chey Lu and Swapnil Mistry from the University of Edinburgh Business School reflect on a project exploring the adoption of AI.

The Alliance Viewpoint

From John Fotheringham, AI Policy Manager, Scottish Government

 The Strategy actions span a range of areas, including engagement, infrastructure, investment, skills and supporting adoption, development and use of AI. Several relate to businesses, including 1.5, 1.7, 2.4 and 2.5 detailed here.

To help take these forward the Alliance wanted to explore why and how businesses adopt AI. Of interest are sectors with a traditionally low uptake of new tech, and how businesses are informed and supported on their AI journey.

Last autumn myself and colleagues in the Alliance Support Circle were delighted to work with Dr Hajar Mozaffar, Lecturer in Innovation at the Business School, to develop a short research proposal to be offered to students studying for their Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The proposal attracted a lot of interest and in January I was delighted to meet with Lily, Francela, Hardy, Chey and Swapnil to discuss kicking things off. I last planned research years ago, so was pleased to work with them to reframe my initial efforts and produce something much sharper.

Work began soon afterwards, with the added complication that the project would have to be completed earlier than originally planned. However, all of us were up for the challenge, and I was pleased to start regularly checking in with them to hear how things were progressing.

Over the next few months they did a sterling job on initial research and scoping work. It was great to discuss findings and consider what these might mean moving forward, as well as tap into the Alliance’s knowledge and connections for advice.

It became clear that businesses’ journeys towards using AI differ significantly, with a lot hinging on organisational culture, awareness and understanding of AI, capacity to invest and the skills needed to adopt and exploit the technologies.

On 28 March, for the first time in a rather long while, I arrived at Appleton Tower first thing on a Monday morning to attend the students’ final project presentation. It was odd being back in what was my tutorial room when I was a student, but proved to be the venue for just as much of a learning experience!

Lily, Francela, Hardy, Chey and Swapnil gave an excellent overview of the project, what they had discovered and their recommendations for the Alliance to consider moving forward. It was great to be able to meet them all in person for the first time to discuss their experience and findings, and what we might draw from these.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with them all and hope that they will be able to draw on having taken part in the project as they move forward with their careers. It also inspired me to reflect that July 2022 marks 20 years since I left university! But that’s another story…

The Researcher’s Viewpoint

From Lily, Francela, Hardy, Chey & Swapnil

Out of the various consultancy project proposals, the Alliance Support Circle and John’s task to research the adoption of AI in Scottish businesses stood out as an exciting choice and opportunity!

While none of us have had previous experience or work in the field of AI, we all recognized the growing hype and shift towards this emerging technology. With Scotland’s AI Strategy still in its early stages, we appreciated the opportunity to contribute to research that would have an impact on businesses in Scotland while also expanding our own learning.

Tasked with questions about the processes, motivations, barriers and assets needed for businesses to successfully adopt AI, we selected four representative industries in Scotland’s economy for research (telecom and finance for high AI-adoption and retail and manufacturing for low-AI adoption).

We used a combination of secondary and primary research, with ultimately 194 businesses contacted with a survey. This primary research was our greatest challenge as we received a limited survey response rate of 7.5%. This would be the biggest area of improvement if our team was to have more time or could do the project all over again.

Our team met weekly to work through our project plan and share knowledge with each other. With a diverse set of backgrounds, it was a great project group experience as we were able to gain new ideas and viewpoints.

Throughout the course of the project, we also enjoyed meeting with John to share our latest research findings and learn his perspective as well. These conversations helped steer the direction of our research and ultimately discover that the talent deficit and lack of cultural understanding of AI were the biggest barriers businesses faced.

After weeks of connecting with John online, it was great to finally meet him in person for our final presentation. He provided thoughtful feedback and posed interesting questions that helped us reflect on what we had learned.

It was a true pleasure for our team to work on this project and provide research that the Alliance Support Circle can use for the future. Many of us were also inspired by the knowledge gathered and will continue to dive deeper in our education of AI and businesses in a few of our dissertations.