Bridging the gap between AI innovation, adopters, developers and investors

As AI evolves at remarkable speed, the gap between those developing new technologies and the organisations ready to apply them is widening. Connecting both sides is essential to ensure that emerging AI solutions are shaped by real industry needs and can translate into meaningful, scalable impact.

On 13 November 2025, The Alan Turing Institute hosted the first BridgeAI Adopters & Developers event, delivered as part of the Innovate UK BridgeAI programme to bring developers, adopters, sector specialists, and investors together to explore practical AI opportunities across agriculture, creative industries, construction, and transport.

The idea for the event emerged from insights gathered through the Turing’s support to more than 200 SMEs in BridgeAI: developers often struggle to find real-world use cases, while adopters face limited time and capacity to navigate a fast-moving AI landscape. This forum was designed to bridge that gap.

To strengthen the link between innovation and investment, the first BridgeAI PitchFest created. More than 50 organisations applied, and six were selected to receive coaching sessions with ISAs and investment experts ahead of their live pitch.

Bridging the gap

The event’s core focus was fostering early collaboration between developers and end-users, ensuring that AI solutions are shaped by and directly address real-world sector challenges.

Developers often lack crucial sector insight, while adopters struggle to identify trustworthy, relevant AI solutions. Addressing this, The Alan Turing Institute created targeted sessions connecting SMEs with industry experts, AI specialists, and academics, facilitating focused, practical dialogue and accelerating meaningful innovation.

By creating these purposeful pathways, the event accelerated conversations that might otherwise take months to happen or never happen at all. The environment encouraged open discussion, honest questions, and the kind of trust that is essential for organisations exploring AI for the first time. Ultimately, this intentional approach made the networking not only more efficient but more impactful, helping participants leave with clearer next steps and potential collaborators.

“The curated networking sessions were really interesting and I met 5 -10 people I’ve already followed up with” – event attendee feedback.

Driving the UK’s AI opportunity

A thriving AI ecosystem depends not only on innovation, but also on access to funding and investor networks. The BridgeAI PitchFest was created to help SMEs understand what investors look for and to showcase promising innovations emerging from across our priority sectors.

The six selected organisations pitched to a panel of investors:

• Alok Gupta (Impact Investor)
• Kieran Carty (Big Issue Investment)
• Radu Bozga (Notion VC)
• Thomas Schreiber (Korra Ventures)

The jury praised the calibre of the cohort, stating it was “an impressive group of startups and pitches.” Congratulations to Symterra, the PitchFest winner.

Pitching companies included:

• Bonza Music – Creative Industries (Fiona Ryder)
• E-Nano – Agrifood (Erwann Lompech-Lenevue)
• Kapdaa – Creative Industries (Nishant Parekh)
• Petiole – Agrifood (Maryna Kuzmenko)
• Nash Maritime – Transport (Richard Marlow & Chris Hutchings)
• Symterra – Construction (Sarah Crawley)

Beyond the live pitches, the PitchFest represented a collaborative effort. The applications were anonymised and reviewed by a panel of BridgeAI experts, with selected companies receiving tailored preparation support through three advisory sessions with our Independent Scientific Advisors (ISAs) and three dedicated coaching sessions with experienced investment coaches.

Participants shared:

“It was a great opportunity to pitch our solution, get feedback on our business and meet likeminded founders and AI developers/adopters”

“Thank you for the opportunity to work with Diwei (ISA) as my AI mentor and Dirk as the pitch mentor. We had such helpful sessions!”

We are grateful to everyone who supported this process, from the reviewers to the ISAs, investor coaches, and the investors on the day, for helping shape a PitchFest that strengthened both innovation and SME investment readiness.

Responsible AI adoption gathers momentum

Events like this demonstrate the growing momentum across the UK’s AI landscape, and the importance of maintaining it beyond one-off events. We were particularly keen to transform the energy of the day into longer-term and larger impacts for attendees.

The feedback so far has been incredibly encouraging:

“It was excellent. The networking sessions were fantastic. I learnt so much.”

“Everything was fantastic. Despite large numbers everything was well-organised and ran to time. There were plenty of opportunities to learn and network. I wish there were more!”

As a next step, a virtual community call in January 2026 will be convened for all attendees, providing an opportunity to continue the conversations sparked during the event. This is a essential component of the broader event strategy designed to ensure that the connections made evolve into meaningful made collaborations in the coming months.

We extend our sincere thanks to our committee, speakers and facilitators, whose generosity and expertise shaped the day.