The Faculty Fellowship: a dual purpose programme for companies to trial AI projects and hire top tech talent

Approximately one in six UK organisations are embracing at least one artificial intelligence (AI) technology. With the top applications being data management and analysis, natural language processing, machine learning, AI hardware and computer vision as well as image processing and generation. It’s clear industries are striving for innovation.  

Faculty’s Fellowship is a dual purpose programme that enables organisations to propel forward by trialling short-term AI projects and seamlessly hire top tech talent. Our 8-week programme has helped over 200 companies, from startups to some of the world’s biggest enterprises including Virgin Media O2, Otta, Network Rail, Tide and the Home Office with junior machine learning engineers and data scientists. 

In this blog, we’ll delve into how various sectors can reap the benefits of short-term AI projects including examples of companies who have previously participated in our programme.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

AI has the ability to offer SaaS companies a new dimension to their services. By trialling short-term AI projects, businesses can use these technologies to enhance product features, detect fraud and software bugs, automate customer interactions, predict users for marketing campaigns and optimise backend processes. Pairing these projects with a skilled data scientist, ensures continuous innovation, keeping SaaS companies at the forefront of customer satisfaction.    

Check out this project undertaken at consumer research platform, Attest. They used our Fellowship programme to analyse feedback to reach niche demographics. As a result, they were able to help businesses get actionable insights about their consumers in a faster and more cost effective way.

Travel

For the travel industry, efficiency is key, and AI could be game-changing. Short-term AI projects can help travel companies analyse customer preferences and behaviour patterns, optimise travel routes, predict cancellations, automate travel delay communications and compare competitor pricing strategies. These applications and the involvement of a top data scientist ensures advancements are sustained, as travel businesses can keep paving the way for ongoing optimisation. 

See the project implemented by British airline, easyJet. They were able to produce a simulator to test various seat pricing strategies. This model can bypass financial risks and provides a virtual environment for quicker and safer testing.

Marketing & Advertising

Data-driven strategies are imperative for marketing and advertising companies. With short-term AI projects, businesses can supercharge their efforts by analysing massive datasets for consumer behaviour and preferences, improve client recommendations, optimise ad campaigns and even predict market trends. Matched with the skills of an adept data scientist, firms can continue to stay agile and adaptive.

Discover this project adopted by Mention Me, a customer advocacy intelligence platform. By building a model that analyses consumer behaviour and the likelihood of a customer sharing a referral offer, this business can easily test out ways to improve sharing behaviour, increasing revenue for themselves and their clients.

Housing

Housing associations and estate agencies face the challenge of dealing with multiple complex operations. Adopting short-term AI projects allows this industry to simplify valuation, screening and lease management, automate maintenance requests and repair processes, streamline inspection procedures as well as enhance marketing strategies. Retaining tech talent post-project ensures these organisations continue to leverage AI for seamless property, tenant and maintenance services.

Take a look at this project undertaken by HouseMark, a data and insight company for the UK housing sector. By integrating natural language processing techniques with contextual data, this project will lead to improved efficiency of the benchmarking validation process for social housing.

Construction

The construction industry revolves around intricate planning and resource management. Taking advantage of short-term AI projects can optimise these aspects by predicting site delays and project timelines, forecasting maintenance and servicing schedules, automating internal reporting and enhancing safety protocols. Pairing these applications with the expertise of an in-house AI specialist, means companies in the construction sector can uphold smoother operations, reduce costs and improve project outcomes. 

Explore this project implemented by Morgan Sindall, a British Construction & Regeneration group. This company was able to automate their internal reporting and predict delays before they happen, allowing them to tackle a multi-million pound source of loss.  

Unlock value from your data

As businesses continue to embrace these short-term AI projects, the rewards extend far beyond the programme’s timeline, shaping the landscape of innovation for years to come.

Our Fellowship programme serves as a bridge between businesses’ aspirations and tech talent’s expertise. Over a 6-week placement, your company can undertake a bespoke AI project and get matched with one of Europe’s best data scientists. Join the innovators, get in touch here.