The Alan Turing Institute is receiving additional UK government funding to transform itself from a university-centred research hub into a more open, national institute for data science and artificial intelligence. This matters because the UK lacks a single, coordinated national centre that can connect academic research, industry needs, and public-sector challenges in AI and data science at scale. The Institute was launched in 2015 with five founding universities and government backing, but its current model limits how widely it can collaborate. The additional 2021/22 funding is intended to build the foundations of "Turing 2.0" — a more inclusive institute that can serve as the operational core of a potential UKRI National AI Programme. If successful, the Institute will expand its network of university partners, deepen partnerships with industry and the public sector, and train a new generation of data scientists and AI researchers. It will also shape public debate around data and algorithms. The immediate impact is institutional rather than technological: the goal is to create the infrastructure for future breakthroughs, not to deliver a specific product or service. This is a transitional investment in the UK's capacity to coordinate and accelerate AI research across the country.
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The Alan Turing Institute, as the UK's national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, plays an important part in driving forward advances in these technologies in order to change the world for the better. The Institute is named in honour of Alan Turing, whose pioneering work in theoretical and applied mathematics, engineering and computing is considered to have laid the foundations for modern-day data science and artificial intelligence. The Institute's goals are to undertake world-class research, apply its research to real-world problems, driving economic impact and societal good, lead the training of a new generation of scientists, and shape the public conversation around data and algorithms. After launching in 2015 with government funding from EPSRC and five founding universities, the Institute has grown an extensive network of university partners from across the UK and launched a number of major partnerships with industry, public and third sector. Today it is home to more than 500 researchers, a rapidly growing team of in house research software engineers and data scientists and a business team. Following its initial phase of funding, EPSRC provided a short-term commitment to ensure the continuity of core activity in the current model. Since then, EPSRC has been working with the Institute, and across UKRI, to develop the Institute's role at the centre of a potential UKRI National AI Programme. As part of the transition into this role, EPSRC are providing additional funding in 2021/22 to allow the Institute to build the foundations of Turing 2.0 and invest in activities that support the evolution of the Turing to a more open, national Institute in data science and AI.
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