This Next Generation Services (NGS) uplift project aimed to better understand how the nature of business incubation shapes the way that start-up firms develop and implement AI technologies within the professional services sectors of accountancy and law. By analysing the incubation process the project has explored the incubators as part of the ecosystem, and the role that incubation and acceleration can play in supporting the Next-Generation Services start-ups.

The initial report focuses on understanding the landscape, the variety of incubators, the degree of alignment with specific professional services sub-sectors and the nature of the incubation services/offer.  The report provides insights as a springboard to explore more practical questions of how to leverage these to better catalyse technology adoption in professional services firms.

This project explores case studies of incubator programmes from around the world, including UK, Canada, Singapore, Finland and Austria and interviews with incubator participants. We explored differences and similarities across three different types of incubation context: Privately owned, standalone accelerators; Government-led and/ or state sponsored programmes of incubation; Corporate-led, sector-specific incubation programmes 

Our findings suggest that incubators could have a more prominent catalytic role in developing innovation ecosystems and encouraging the adoption of AI and other transformative technologies within the mid-tier of professional service firms (and across the sector). However, given the key insights below, more work is required to understand what kinds of interventions will be most effective in advancing AI-related policy objectives and engaging with the grand challenge laid out by the ISCF

Read the report here