About AI for Growth
A national initiative built for the businesses that need it most.
AI for Growth is a voluntary cross-sector alliance dedicated to helping UK businesses adopt AI — practically, securely, and at scale. Launched by Founders Forum Group and Accenture, it brings together frontier AI companies, large corporates, SMEs, government, regulators, academia, and civil society around three national priorities: AI Reskilling, AI Security, and AI Infrastructure.
Why we exist
Most AI help is designed for organisations nothing like yours.
UK businesses are under real pressure to adopt AI. But most of the help on offer is too technical, too expensive, or built for enterprise teams rather than the businesses that make up most of the UK economy.
AI for Growth was built to close that gap. Not with a course. Not with a summit. With a working alliance — one that brings the right organisations into the same room and asks them to contribute something real.
The initiative focuses on The Three National Priorities: AI Reskilling, AI Security, and AI Infrastructure. These aren't themes for discussion. They're the areas where practical progress is possible right now, and where a cross-sector alliance can do things that no single organisation can.
The SME Community is the most visible part of that work. It's free, it's peer-led, and it's built around a simple insight: the most useful thing AI for Growth can give a business owner is access to other business owners who've already figured out the thing they're trying to figure out.
What we do
Practical work across three national priorities.
AI for Growth produces resources that UK businesses can actually use — not reports that sit unread, not guidelines written for lawyers.
How we're governed
A working alliance, not a talking shop.
AI for Growth operates through working groups aligned to its three national priorities. Each working group is co-chaired by member organisations and brings together people with relevant expertise. Decisions are made collectively. Members contribute through some combination of time, expertise, networks, and financial support.
The initiative is led by Founders Forum Group and Accenture. Day-to-day programme management sits with Alessandra Corti, Programme Director at AI for Growth.
Membership is contribution-led. Partners commit capital, capability, data, time, or leadership. The organisations that show up and contribute are the ones that shape what gets built.
The people
Who leads the work.
Carolyn Dawson
CEO, Founders Forum Group
Carolyn leads Founders Forum Group, the co-initiating organisation behind AI for Growth.
Deanna Emeny
Chief of Staff, Founders Forum Group
Deanna manages operations at Founders Forum Group and supports the day-to-day running of the initiative.
Gaurav Gujral
UK Central Government Lead and AI for Growth Executive Sponsor, Accenture
Gaurav leads Accenture's UK Central Government and Public Infrastructure practice and serves as Executive Sponsor for AI for Growth.
Cyrus Suntook
AI-Enabled Organisations Lead, Accenture
Cyrus leads Accenture's day-to-day engagement with AI for Growth, working across the initiative's working groups.
Alessandra Corti
Programme Director, AI for Growth
Alessandra runs the AI for Growth programme — coordinating across partners, working groups, and the initiative's four flagship deliverables.
Who's involved
Founding partners and members.
AI for Growth's founding partners span frontier AI companies, large corporates, reskilling specialists, infrastructure providers, and delivery partners. What they have in common: they're contributing something real — technology, content, expertise, or reach.
Partners contribute capital, capability, data, time, or leadership — not just logo placement.
Three national priorities
Where the initiative focuses its work.
AI for Growth focuses on three national priorities: AI Reskilling — supporting the UK's 10 million AI reskilling target and equipping people and organisations for the changing world of work; AI Security — enabling secure, trustworthy, well-governed AI development through sector-specific guidelines and real use cases; and AI Infrastructure — helping SMEs and scale-ups make future-ready infrastructure decisions on compute, cost, data residency, and vendor lock-in.
Each priority has a dedicated working group. Each is producing practical outputs, not position papers.
Timeline
How AI for Growth came together.
10 February 2026
Core membership launched
20 April 2026
Public launch at Reinvention X Conference
The founding partner group formed around a shared view: that the UK's AI transition would leave most businesses behind unless someone built the bridge between frontier AI capability and the businesses that make up most of the economy.