The development of AI is progressing at a rapid pace. For business owners, it can be a challenge to implement and benefit from AI within their own operations, especially while the daily running of the business demands attention. Now, businesses and organisations in the Jönköping region are getting a helping hand through a new initiative by Science Park and Jönköping University: a collaborative platform for AI called AI JKPG. The researchers from AFAIR are, of course, involved!

If you run a business in the Jönköping region, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of, or have already been in contact, with ”AI Readiness”. AI Readiness was created to help the region’s businesses get started with AI – with a focus on business benefits. The project, run by Science Park Jönköping and funded by the European Development Fund, Region Jönköping County, Jönköping University, and Science Park Jönköping County, has been successful, says Petrus Ekbladh, a business developer specialising in AI at Science Park Jönköping.

”We have now received funding to continue with a follow-up project, ”AI Readiness 2.0”, where we will continue along the same path: helping the region’s businesses find the business benefits of AI. As before, we are targeting small and medium-sized enterprises in the region.”

The overall need at a regional level

Work is now beginning to package the offer to the region’s businesses and other stakeholders.

”The first step is to understand the existing needs. Therefore, we will be inviting all stakeholders to workshops where we will work out how the offer should be structured and how we can work cross-functionally with collaboration between businesses and organisations, research, education, and innovation. After that, we will assemble a reference group,” says Petrus Ekbladh.

”The School of Engineering and the AFAIR project have been active partners since the project started and are therefore natural collaborators going forward. We also hope that all of Jönköping University’s faculties will participate and showcase their AI research at various levels.”

The ambition is to highlight the overall AI needs at the regional level, which means they also hope to engage actors from the public sector – the municipalities, the region, and our national agencies; the Swedish Board of Agriculture, the National Courts Administration and the Swedish Forest Agency.

Open network

Science Park has an open network where participants are offered coaching, lectures, and the opportunity to participate in or be involved in research projects.

”This autumn, we are launching a larger ambition to create a collaborative platform, AI JKPG, which is open to everyone who wants to create new connections within AI: established businesses, start-ups, and organisations. We believe the platform could be a significant asset for the region and for businesses’ continued development in the AI field.”

Interested? Just get in touch with Petrus Ekbladh at Science Park. You can find the contact details here!