A pioneering Lancaster University-led project bringing new technology and capabilities to professional services firms across the UK has been cited in the government’s new Industrial Strategy.

The Technology in Professional Services (TiPS) innovation adoption accelerator is hailed for its positive impact on bringing new technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, into professional service firms.

It is mentioned in the Professional and Business Services sector plan that is part of the wider Industrial Strategy – a 10-year plan to boost investment, support 1.1 million new well-paid jobs, and make Britain the best place to do business.

TiPS, led out of Lancaster University Management School, and involving Oxford Brookes University, the University of Salford and Hyperscale Group Ltd, is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Innovate UK as part of the Next Generation Professional and Financial Services programme.

Team members have worked with more than 60 small and mid-tier law and accountancy firms across the country. They provide a combination of training, technical and organisational advice, funding, and facilitated peer support, as well as researching the process of adoption undertaken by participating firms.

Professor Martin Spring, Principal Investigator on the three-year £1.8m TiPS project, said: “It is good to see that the Government is committed to an industrial strategy, and very gratifying that TiPS has been able to contribute some useful insights for the development of the sector plan for Professional and Business Services.

“Technology adoption is about people and organisations as much as it is about the technology itself, and our social science approach has helped us design the TiPS accelerator and gain useful new insights from its operation. These insights can be useful for the whole sector – and in others that need to accelerate innovation adoption.”

Professional and Business Services (PBS) are one of eight sectors for potential growth highlighted by the Strategy. The PBS plan outlines proposals to further invest in Innovate UK’s Next Generation Professional and Financial Services programme, which funds TiPS.

It says the aim is to ‘boost engagement in our PBS Hub locations, to catalyse and support more PBS firms to develop and adopt innovative AI and digital solutions. This UK-wide initiative will equip the sector with the tools to develop bespoke technology by bringing together PBS businesses, SMEs, relevant technology companies, academia, and research institutions to accelerate the flow of ideas and convert cutting-edge research into practical, market-ready innovations.’

The same report also includes a case study for mid-sized law firm VWV, and mentioned their work on the TiPS programme, and the positive effects this has had on the business: “Since integrating AI tools, VWV has uniquely placed trainee solicitors at the centre of its AI strategy, has enhanced efficiencies in streamlining contract reviews, and has developed a custom software app to manage data interactions with large language models (LLMs).”

As well as Professor Spring, LUMS researchers involved in the TiPS project are Professor James Faulconbridge and Dr Cara Molyneux.