Professional and Financial Services - a snapshot of 2025 and what's next

On 17 December 2025, UK Research and Innovation published its Spending Review budget allocations, confirming a £118 million combined investment in Professional, Business and Financial Services over the next four years, alongside substantial investment in Digital and Technologies, including AI. These allocations respond directly to the UK government’s 2035 Industrial Strategy commitments, which recognise professional and financial services as critical drivers of economic growth and international competitiveness.

Throughout 2025, the Next Generation Professional and Financial Services programme continued to support innovation and technology development and adoption across the sector through the AI for Services Innovation Network.

Convening the ecosystem

Throughout the year, activities focused on bringing together firms, innovators, researchers, and delivery partners to address shared adoption challenges and opportunities.

This included matchmaking events for LegalTech and Digital Accountancy communities, where technology providers connected with leading professional services firms to explore practical use cases, pilots and routes to adoption.

Stakeholders were convened both nationally and regionally, with our UK National Showcase: Next Generation Professional & Financial Services event in March 2025 highlighting innovation success stories and lessons learned from funded projects. additionally, we delivered a series of regional workshops in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester to support firms to develop AI literacy, understand responsible innovation and formulate practical approaches to digital adoption for the benefit of their businesses and customers.

Practical insight and guidance

These activities were bolstered by a range of practical guidance resources designed to enable firms to make informed decisions and optimise progress in technology adoption.

The AI for Services Report provided insight into technology adoption, emerging opportunities, and challenges across professional and financial services. This was complemented by the Programme Brochure (which features projects we have funded and supported over the years) and three practical guides on responsible innovation, AI literacy and digital adoption that would support organisations at various stages of digital maturity.

Inspirational founder stories

The AI for Services podcast series continued to share first-hand perspectives from pioneers, researchers and practitioners working at the intersection of technology and services. In the second series of this podcast, we delved into what is working in practice, considered lessons learned from deployment, and discovered how digital and AI-enabled tools are reshaping service delivery.

Furthermore, through five new case studies we have highlighted digital and data-driven solutions that address real-world challenges such as access to justice, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices and performance, as well as sustainability reporting, tax and compliance processes, and data governance all, whilst demonstrating collaboration within the ecosystem.

Supporting organisations

Beyond our own events and publications, the team continued to provide invaluable hands-on support and advice through one-to-one conversations, tailored introductions, signposting funding opportunities, and participation at numerous industry exhibitions and conferences, including Insurtech Insights 2025, IFGS 2025 and Legal Geek.

Empowering collaboration

We are very pleased to have been able to work together to deliver a number of elements of this programme with our colleagues at Innovate UK and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), as well as with teams at Future Finance, TiPS (Technologies in Professional Services) and Whitecap Consulting, and are very grateful for the time given by a plethora of industry experts who gave keynote talks and participated in panel discussions at our events.

What has been particularly encouraging through the programme is seeing relationships that started at our sessions develop into live projects and collaborations. It has been genuinely rewarding to follow founders’ journeys from early ideas through to funded projects, pilots and, in some cases, early commercial success. When the right partners, expertise and support are in place, we can accelerate innovation.

Astrid Ayel, Knowledge Transfer Manager – Blockchain & Fintech, Innovate UK Business Connect

Looking ahead for 2026

We are looking forward to providing you with a programme of activities throughout the year, starting with:

• The Investor Forum for Professional and Business Services where we will explore capital, innovation, and growth in London on Monday 23rd March
• The Ideas Factory at the British Legal Technology Forum on Tuesday 10th March in London
• Exhibiting at The Finance, Accounting and Bookkeeping Show (FAB) in Birmingham on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th of March

What’s next?

To discuss your organisation’s priorities and to explore potential next steps for digital adoption and collaboration opportunities, book a call with the team here.

For updates on funding and support opportunities following the government announcements made in 2025, subscribe to the AI for Services newsletter and connect with your community through our LinkedIn group.