Bayes Centre News: 12 Innovative Start-Ups Selected for AI Accelerator
Twelve start-ups addressing a wide range of pressing global, business and health issues have been selected from applicants across the world to join the University of Edinburgh’s AI Accelerator.
A body-sizing app to improve online shopping, 3D printed tumours to test cancer drugs, and a mental health early warning monitor are among the 12 innovations selected for the next University of Edinburgh AI Accelerator.
The aim of the accelerator is to help AI-driven startups with high growth potential to set foundations to become world-leading companies, creating jobs and economic and societal benefit.
The AI Accelerator is delivered by the University’s Bayes Centre and Edinburgh Innovations, the University’s commercialisation service, in partnership with Scale Space, the workspace dedicated to scale-ups, and supported by Edinburgh-based strategic design consultancy Nile.
The cohort has been chosen from 66 applicants from all over the world. It follows previous successful AI Accelerators, the last of which ran from February to July 2021, where 15 companies taking part raised an impressive £6.3 million in investment and grants to develop their companies.
Global Challenges
Each of the companies selected for the programme aims to address major global challenges, with many focused on urgent health or climate change needs.
This year we have, Edinburgh-based Carcinotech is reinventing cancer research by manufacturing 3D-printed tumours using cancer stem cells, primary cells and established cell lines, providing a new platform for pre-clinical and precision medicine testing.
Among the new participants, Oxford-based Aistetic has developed a machine learning system that turns a phone camera into a body-sizing scanner to help online retailers sell clothes in the right sizes, reducing returns and improving customer satisfaction.
EMoodie is addressing the mental health epidemic by providing an early warning system to improve outcomes and quality of life for individuals and reduce the burden for health care providers. The Edinburgh-based company is already working with the World Health Organisation and NHS24.
And an Italian company, Indigo.ai, has created an AI platform for companies to easily create bespoke, high quality conversational assistants to improve staff efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Charlotte Waugh, Enterprise and Innovation Programme Lead at Edinburgh Innovations, said:
I am delighted to welcome this new AI Accelerator cohort to the Bayes Centre and Edinburgh.
Given the challenges our society faces in bouncing back from the impact of Covid-19, it has never been more important to support the best innovative companies to scale.
Society needs more solutions based on AI and data-focused technologies and Industry needs to speed up digitisation and decarbonisation. The university’s expertise in data, technology and business development means we are perfectly positioned to help these businesses address key challenges and make an immediate difference.
The twelve teams of artificial intelligence entrepreneurs will begin the six-month AI Accelerator – part of a wider Data Driven Entrepreneurship programme at the University – on 22 September.
Further information
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