Chair's Brief: Issue 01

Alongside partners from industry, education and government I played a small part in evaluating our regional response to the Government's call for AI Growth Zones. It was quickly clear that whilst we don't have an immediately viable site for the energy production required, we could bring together our regional talent to ensure that our region has access to AI capability, skills and resources.

In October we held an energetic first workshop at the Future Town Innovation Hub where it was very clear that there is both urgency and opportunity for our region, in equal measure.

AI-driven growth cannot be delivered by data centres alone. It will come from our people understanding how to deploy AI responsibly, from our SMEs being confident enough to adopt it, and from our institutions being able to apply it in our real-world industrial sectors across our region.

The AI Growth Alliance exists to organise that effort.

The AI Growth Alliance is a regional partnership bringing together business, education, government and civic leaders across Hampshire, the Solent and the wider South Central region. We do not develop products or duplicate existing initiatives. Our role is to align effort, reduce fragmentation, and make it easier for organisations to adopt AI confidently and responsibly.

Nationally and globally, much of the focus in AI is on scale; compute, capital and infrastructure. Our distinctive contribution is different. We are focused on practical deployment, trusted governance and real-world adoption across diverse communities and sectors.

Aligning with the Future Towns Innovation Hub, we believe AI must be grounded in place. Adoption in a rural district will look different from adoption in a major city. An SME faces different challenges from a global prime contractor. We believe there is a unique proposition that our region can provide national and even global leadership in designing pathways and processes that work across these contexts.

We are working towards the potential of a formal launch of AIGA at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2026  .

To stand on that stage with credibility, we must be able to demonstrate tangible regional impact.

That means showing:

●      Skills programmes that are building confidence and capability

●      SMEs adopting AI in measurable ways

●      Clear infrastructure readiness discussions

●      Ethical frameworks embedded in practice

●      Cross-sector collaboration that reduces duplication

The Alliance must move from coordination to visible outcomes over the coming months. To this end we have formed working groups which will consider all new applications for membership.

The working groups are

●      AI Skills and Leadership

●      AI Infrastructure and Investment

●      AI Ethics and Inclusion

●      AI Ecosystem Coordination and Identity

If you are keen to contribute to one or more of the working groups then please

In the coming weeks, our focus will be clear:

●      Formalising governance and working group activity 

●      Developing a clear roadmap to July 2026 and the potential Farnborough launch

●      Strengthening our regional identity and shared narrative 

●      Identifying early demonstrator opportunities

●      Expanding engagement with sectors not yet fully represented

Above all, we will prioritise confidence-building. AI should not feel abstract or intimidating. It should feel usable, understandable, and beneficial.

The most powerful message from the October workshop was this: only by working together and corralling all of our skills and resources can we ensure the benefits are shared across our region.

If we align our strengths, embed ethics and inclusion from the outset, and focus relentlessly on practical, measurable impact, we can ensure that the South does not simply observe the AI revolution, we help shape it.

Crucially, we shape it in a way that benefits our communities, our businesses, and the next generation.

I look forward to working with all of you.

David Patterson

Chair, AI Growth Alliance

This week's Newsletter was written by David Patterson using a structure suggested by Claude and edited using Grammarly. All images created using Canva and this newsletter is produced and managed using beehiiv