CIoTh, UK AI Minister Explore Collaboration to Drive Regional AI Growth

Oluchi Chibuzor

The Centre of Intelligence of Things (CIoTh) at the University of Greater Manchester has opened talks with the UK government on how research centres outside London can help drive the country’s artificial intelligence agenda.

The talks, according to CloTh began after a meeting with Kanishka Narayan MP, the UK’s first cabinet-level Minister for Artificial Intelligence, at the Fabian Society’s Festival of Ideas 2026 in Liverpool.

According to a statement issued by CIoTh, the Minister met the Centre’s Head, Professor Celestine Iwendi, during a festival session titled ‘AI and Good Growth in Every Region’ The session brought together senior figures from industry, technology, academia and policy. Discussion centred on the Prime Minister’s ambition for good growth in every postcode, and on what that ambition means for AI.

At the session, CIoTh argued that AI-driven growth will not reach every region through strategies developed in Whitehall alone, adding that in the Centre’s view, it depends on research centres that build and test AI in the places where people will actually use it.

The statement said discussions with the Minister covered: the future of work, skills development, responsible innovation, regulation and what it takes to move AI from pilot projects to everyday use in hospitals, factories, schools and homes.

Both sides explored how CIoTh’s research expertise and international networks could support the development of responsible AI frameworks and their real-world adoption across the UK, the statement stated.

According to Iwendi, “The question is no longer whether AI will reshape the economy. It is whether every region gets to help shape it. Our researchers work on AI that has to function in hospitals, factories, schools and homes, under real constraints of trust, safety and cost. We welcomed the Minister’s openness to that perspective, and we look forward to continuing the conversation at Parliament in November.”

The engagement comes at a significant time for UK AI policy, the statement noted.

“In July, the Minister for AI role was raised to Cabinet level for the first time. Its responsibilities now span the Cabinet Office and the newly formed Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. They cover AI policy, strategy, innovation, research infrastructure and economy-wide adoption,” the statement said.

However, Prof. Iwendi led a three-member CIoTh delegation to the festival: Emmanuel Edim, AFHEA, Software Engineer, Associate Researcher and Vice President of the IEEE Student Branch; Sharon Emmanuel, Researcher and Temienor Philip-Neris Nikatsekpe, Visiting Associate Researcher, CloTh.

The Centre brings early-career researchers into policy discussions as participants rather than observers, “its position is that the people building the technology should help shape the policies that govern it,” CloTh said.

However, Edim said that, “Policy shaped without the people building the technology tends to miss how it actually fails and succeeds. Being in the room where regional AI growth is debated, not just reading about it afterwards, changes the questions we ask in our research.

“The first next step has already been agreed. The Minister has accepted CIoTh’s invitation to join its IEEE programme at Parliament on 3 November 2026. He will share the platform with Mary Ellen Randall, 2026 President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).”