Over the past week, UCL School of Management welcomed hundreds of small and medium-sized business leaders to a hands-on AI workshop designed to simplify artificial intelligence (AI) and support them to translate it into practical, action-ready business tools.
Delivered in partnership with Stanford University and Be The Business, a not-for-profit organisation supporting small and medium-sized businesses, the free workshop series ran from Tuesday 16 to Thursday 18 December, with six four-hour sessions hosted on Level 50 of One Canada Square.
In total, more than 420 attendees took part, representing a wide range of sectors including marketing, operations, hiring and innovation.
The programme was grounded in a clear and pragmatic message that AI should not be adopted for its own sake. Instead, participants were guided to start with the real bottlenecks within their businesses, from repetitive processes and information-heavy tasks, to data inconsistencies and operational inefficiencies. They then worked to assess where AI could genuinely add value.
Programme lead, UCL School of Management’s Professor Angela Aristidou said: “Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of local economies and communities, and it is essential that they are not left behind in this new era of AI innovation.
“Through this research and engagement programme, we aim to ensure that the benefits of AI are accessible, responsible and impactful for organisations of all sizes. At its core, our initiative is about economic inclusion.”
The sessions opened with an accessible introduction to AI fundamentals, alongside context-setting insights into the UK’s productivity challenge. Referencing recent reports positioning the UK towards the bottom of international productivity league tables, the workshop framed AI as a potential lever for improvement, if applied thoughtfully and strategically.
The interactive workshops were led by expert facilitators and supported by industry collaborators including IBM and Salesforce. Attendees progressed through a structured workbook, designed not only to guide them through the sessions but also to inform ongoing UCL research into AI adoption within SMEs.
Participants completed their workshops with a personalised AI Action Plan, tailored to their organisation.
A key strength of the programme was its emphasis on shared learning. SMEs from different sectors worked alongside one another, openly discussing challenges and testing ideas in real time.
As one attendee, Maria Paula Torres Moreno, Head of Marketing for ComplyLens Ltd., reflected:
“It was a very insightful experience that helped me reframe my daily challenges and turn them into clear, actionable AI initiatives. Assessing each challenge using factors such as how much information is required to solve it is essential to work out how AI can support my business.
She also praised the structure and delivery of the session, highlighting the value of both the facilitation and peer discussion.
The overwhelmingly positive response to the workshop series highlights a growing appetite among UK SMEs for practical, applied AI guidance, rather than abstract theory. By grounding AI in everyday business realities, UCL School of Management, together with Stanford University and Be The Business, has helped equip leaders with the confidence and tools to begin experimenting responsibly and productively.
Stanford University lead Dr Christina Langer said: “I deeply value the collaboration we’ve built with UCL. With our complementary expertise and by working closely with small and medium-sized businesses, we can ensure that our research doesn’t stay on the shelf, but creates real-world impact and societal value.”
Professor Aristidou added: “This collaboration between UCL School of Management, the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and Be The Business is an exciting example of how international academic partnerships and industry expertise can work together to translate research into measurable economic and societal impact.”
