NI tech leaders warn focus must shift to “practical AI” over hype as new AI productivity toolkit launches

Northern Ireland’s tech leaders have sent a clear message to policymakers that the region’s biggest competitive advantage lies not in chasing ‘hype or AI unicorns’ but in embedding applied AI into the everyday operations of its SMEs.

The message follows the first NI Tech Leaders Roundtable event hosted by AwakenHub and the UK Tech Cluster Group at the Bishop’s Gate Hotel, Derry, attended by representatives of established tech businesses, industry, academia, and the public sector.

The event also marked the launch of a new Activate AI Productivity Toolkit developed by both hosts and co-created with SMEs from across many sectors in NI. Available at www.awakenhub.com, the free resource offers step-by-step guidance for NI-based businesses on applying AI to everyday operational tasks. It also addresses common barriers to adoption, including a lack of internal skills, inconsistent outputs, and concerns around governance and data.

Following the toolkit launch, the NI Tech Leaders Roundtable event discussed what a coordinated AI and tech ecosystem strategy for Northern Ireland should look like in practice.

Participants were clear about the need for sharper policy distinctions around AI in Northern Ireland and the importance of creating two distinct support pathways. One for firms building AI products and services for local and global markets, and one for firms adopting AI into their everyday workflows.

The group also felt that the current focus on traditional metrics, such as job creation and headcount, risks overlooking that AI’s early value is already showing up for NI’s SMEs in productivity, margin improvement, resilience, and time-to-market.

They also called for a more coordinated and realistic approach to AI policy in NI, stating that while support exists, it can be fragmented, hard to navigate, and not sequenced to the real journey businesses are experiencing, as they don’t yet know what their AI needs are.

Speaking following the Roundtable, Clare McGee, CEO and cofounder of AwakenHub, said:

“Northern Ireland’s strength lies in its dual market access, which gives it a real opportunity to lead in safe, reliable, trustworthy, and compliant AI use. We don’t need to replicate Silicon Valley. Our opportunity is to become one of the easiest, safest, and most effective places to deploy AI in real businesses, and we need our policymakers to support this.

“Industry has today told us that if we continue to measure and aim to support AI success purely in terms of jobs, we’ll miss where real value is already being created for SMEs in terms of productivity, margin improvement, and getting products to market quicker. We also need different approaches for firms adopting AI and those building AI products and services, and a review of where and how AI support is devised and delivered.”

Participants identified key priorities policymakers should deliver across the next six to 24 months, including:

· Access to an AI voucher where an SME can decide for themselves how to deploy funds to support their AI needs.

· Funding pilots that reward implementation, productivity, and value creation, not just jobs and capital spend.

· Practical skills routes, including degree apprenticeships, micro-credentials, and role-based AI pathways in areas like finance, operations, and marketing.

· Segmented and practical support offers for micro firms, established SMEs, and AI-native ventures, rather than a one-size-fits-all SME category.

Commenting on the suggested priorities, Clare McGee added:

“The message from industry here is loud and clear. Too many businesses remain stuck between interest and implementation. AI is not a technology problem for most businesses. It’s a workflow, skills, governance, and confidence challenge. Everyone acknowledges that policymaking in such a fast-moving area is complex, but our Roundtable has highlighted the strong willingness among founders, industry, and academia to work with our decision-makers to develop practical on-the-ground support that will make a real difference for business here. “One such support is the publication of our Activate AI Productivity Toolkit. Co-created with local businesses, it shows people how they can identify and start with one real task, build from there, and see immediate, measurable gains. Our AI call to action is simple. Pick one task from your daily workflow, apply AI to it, and build from there.

“Not every member of staff needs to be deep in the weeds with AI in a business, but we are experiencing an AI revolution. It is those companies that embed a culture of AI use and enable every member of staff to have at least a basic understanding of it who will benefit the most. That kind of cultural mind shift, and access to learning, a lot of which is available for free, is how we can all begin to unlock the real economic value of AI across Northern Ireland.”

The Activate AI Productivity Toolkit is a key output of the Activate AI programme delivered by AwakenHub and the UK Tech Cluster Group and is the only Northern Ireland project supported under the UK Government’s £1m Regional Tech Booster initiative.

Organisations represented at the NI Tech Leaders Roundtable event included Ulster University, NWRC, Catalyst, Invest NI, Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre (AICC), Derry City and Strabane District, established tech businesses, and wider industry.

Activate AI is part of the Regional Tech Booster programme, funded by the UK Government and supported by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, in partnership with the UK Tech Cluster Group.