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Programme impact

The programmes and partnerships CBIT runs, and what companies, research leaders and governments did with them, in their own words where we have them. Open any story to read it in full; each links to the service behind it. For our work with individual companies over the years, see Case studies.

Featured

From a first cohort to a sister centre

Relationships grow one rung at a time. With Chiang Mai University and Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), CBIT took about two years to climb from a proposed memorandum of understanding to a five-year national memorandum and a sister centre.

In cooperation with Chiang Mai University’s Science and Technology Park (STeP); the national AI skills programme was funded by MHESI.

Signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation and Nottingham Trent University, 21 April 2026

  1. Rung 1

    Meet

    A keynote, a masterclass, a visit or a delegation.

    • 2024 A proposed memorandum of understanding (May), a memorandum between NTU and Chiang Mai University (October), and a staff and venture exchange
    • November 2025 MHESI’s visit to NTU

  2. Rung 2

    Try one thing

    One cohort, one course or one venture.

    • November 2024 The first founder cohort in the UK
    • November 2025 A second cohort

    The founder sprints story

  3. Rung 3

    Fund it together

    A joint grant.

    • 2025 A joint British Council grant, under the International Science Partnerships Fund

  4. Rung 4

    Transfer the method

    Train the partner’s own staff.

    • December 2025 Train-the-trainer in Thailand

    The ecosystem-building story

  5. Rung 5

    Scale

    A national contract, or several programmes.

    • March to August 2026 MHESI’s national AI skills programme

    The national programme story

  6. Rung 6

    Anchor

    A five-year memorandum of understanding and a sister centre.

    • April 2026 A five-year memorandum with MHESI, and a sister centre at STeP

    The sister-centre story

Business leaders and companies

Develop your leaders and teams. Everything for business leaders and companies

  • AI-Powered Business Transformation

    On a national AI programme, Thai CEOs designed AI support for a real business process

    Who: Chief executives and senior managers on the CEO track of an AI skills programme funded by Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI).

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    Leaders wanted to connect AI strategy with the way their organisations actually work.
    What CBIT did
    CBIT designed and delivered “AI for Strategic Management for CEO” at Chiang Mai University’s Science and Technology Park: a day on AI strategy, a day turning one process into a standard operating procedure with AI support and human checks, and a day building a simple business operating system.
    What happened
    Participants left with first executive workflows, assistants or prototypes grounded in their own businesses.
    Track record
    Across CBIT’s programmes: 600+ executives trained in AI in 2026, 500+ of them in Thailand.
    Where it can lead
    The same programme can serve a ministry’s senior team, an open CEO cohort or a single company.

    More about AI-Powered Business Transformation

  • AI-Empowered Going Global

    Chinese technology CEOs came to Nottingham to work on taking their businesses global

    Who: Chief executives and founders of Chinese technology companies, in an executive cohort from Fudan University School of Management.

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    The CEOs needed to see where AI creates value in their businesses, and how to grow beyond China.
    What CBIT did
    CBIT designed a bespoke three-day strategy lab for the cohort: where AI was failing to create value, a charter for AI agents with a rule for when to stop, a 90-day experiment plan, a company visit and pitches.
    What happened
    The lab ran in Nottingham in July 2026, the month CBIT and the school signed a five-year sister-centre partnership.
    Where it can lead
    Further executive cohorts can follow.

    More about AI-Empowered Going Global

  • Microcredential: Leading AI-Driven Business Transformation

    Rolls-Royce ran an accredited CBIT course for its staff, in-company

    Who: Rolls-Royce, which contracted CBIT to train its staff.

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    The company wanted accredited training on disruptive technology for its staff.
    What CBIT did
    CBIT delivered its microcredential, Leading AI-Driven Business Transformation, in-company, with commercialisation workshops. The course is an NTU award of 10 credits at level 7, which stacks towards the PG Cert in Leadership and Management Practice.
    What happened
    CBIT completed delivery to Rolls-Royce and has since adapted the course for executive cohorts in Thailand and China.
    Where it can lead
    Further in-company cohorts can follow, or credit towards a postgraduate certificate.

    More about the microcredential

Research and university leaders

Win interdisciplinary research, and turn it into ventures and impact. Everything for research and university leaders

  • Venture partner for your bid

    An art and climate-science consortium brought CBIT in as its venture engine, and won UKRI funding

    UKRI’s assessment panel valued the “strong interdisciplinary track record of the proposed team”.

    Who: EASE (Entrepreneurship, Art and Science for Environmental Sustainability), a consortium led by De Montfort University with Nottingham Trent University, the University of Birmingham and the University of East London.

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    EASE set out to turn artists’ ideas on climate communication into tested prototypes that people could use.
    What CBIT did
    CBIT leads the “Build & Test” work: Artist Venturing Labs develop prototypes through creative sprints and lean start-up methods, and the project tests them for social, environmental and economic value. NTU adds Venture Builder support in kind.
    What happened
    UKRI’s panel graded the application Band A, and UKRI funded it in the scheme’s second round. The project is now live.
    Where it can lead
    Viable prototypes can move into the CBIT Venture Builder, and the partners can bid for funding together again.

    More about a venture partner for your bid

  • STEAM Founder

    A healthy-ageing research consortium brought CBIT in to turn its researchers into founders

    Who: The UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium (UKHAIC), funded by BBSRC and led by Nottingham Trent University with the University of Leicester and Northumbria University.

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    The consortium wanted its early-career researchers and technicians to gain entrepreneurial skills and take their bioscience towards impact.
    What CBIT did
    CBIT ran its STEAM Founder programme for the cohort in 2026, from technology readiness and a value-proposition bootcamp to growth hacking, commercialisation readiness and AI-supported data rooms, ending in a showcase.
    What happened
    Teams reworked their value propositions and business models, and every team left with a forward roadmap. One venture moved into the flagship CBIT Venture Builder before the programme ended, and others are in CBIT’s due-diligence process.
    Where it can lead
    Other funded projects do the same: EASE, a UKRI project, and a British Council programme in Thailand also build CBIT’s researcher programme into their work.

    More about STEAM Founder

  • Innovation ecosystem building

    Thai science-park staff learned to coach research ventures, then delivered training across Thailand

    Who: Chiang Mai University’s Science and Technology Park (STeP) and Mae Fah Luang University’s MFii, in a programme funded through the British Council under the UK’s International Science Partnerships Fund.

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    Thai researchers had strong technical skills but needed an entrepreneurial mindset, and the science parks needed their own staff to carry commercialisation on after CBIT left.
    What CBIT did
    In late 2025 CBIT ran a five-day hybrid programme, online and at Chiang Mai Science Park. Science-park staff shadowed research teams in a technology-transfer role, then scored the researchers’ pitches and compared their scores with CBIT’s.
    What happened
    The trainers came to NTU in February 2026, then delivered sessions with CBIT across Thailand. The British Council extended the grant, citing the sessions’ expanded scope and reach.
    Where it can lead
    In Thailand the next steps were a national AI skills programme and a sister centre.

    More about innovation ecosystem building

  • Keynotes and masterclasses

    Professor Xiao Ma closed CBIT’s own conference on AI for smaller businesses

    Who: Owners and leaders of small and medium-sized businesses, at the Innovate UK AI for SME Conference in Nottingham.

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    Smaller businesses want practical, affordable ways to put AI to work, not just big-company case studies.
    What CBIT did
    On 20 November 2025, Professor Xiao Ma gave the closing keynote, “The Road Ahead”, at Transforming SMEs with AI, the Innovate UK AI for SME Conference that CBIT co-hosted with Innovate UK Business Connect.
    What happened
    The conference’s practical AI-adoption stories, sessions and resources continue at ai4smes.co.uk, hosted by CBIT and supported by Innovate UK.
    Track record
    CBIT runs Nottingham Global Entrepreneurship Week — the only GEW activity in the East Midlands — and co-hosts the annual Innovate UK AI for SME Conference.
    Where it can lead
    A first step: invite Professor Xiao Ma to your own conference, summit or team.

    More about keynotes and masterclasses

Government leaders and international partners

Build national and regional capability. Everything for government leaders and international partners

  • National AI skills programmes

    A ministry-funded programme took practical AI training to businesses across Thailand

    Who: Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), which funded the programme, and Chiang Mai University’s Science and Technology Park (STeP), which led it.

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    MHESI funded STeP to build AI skills among industrial workers, graduates, researchers, incubator managers and science-park officers.
    What CBIT did
    After a needs assessment, CBIT and STeP designed sector courses: wellness and tourism, marketing and data, food manufacturing, chief executives, and incubator managers. CBIT ran hands-on three-day workshops across Thailand in 2026, with follow-up support and joint MHESI, Chiang Mai University and Nottingham Business School certificates.
    What happened
    Participants began designing AI workflows and prototypes for their own organisations.
    Track record
    CBIT’s Thai programmes to date: 500+ professionals trained in Thailand (MHESI and Chiang Mai University programmes, 2024–2026).
    Where it can lead
    In April 2026 MHESI and NTU signed a five-year memorandum of understanding, with a CBIT sister centre at STeP.

    More about national AI skills programmes

  • International founder sprints

    Thai student and researcher founders tested their ventures on the UK market

    Who: Chiang Mai University’s Science and Technology Park (STeP), which selects Thai student and researcher founders for its Experiential Learning Programme, with Thai government funding.

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    STeP wanted Thai students to build a global entrepreneurial mindset through real experiments in international markets.
    What CBIT did
    CBIT hosted the programme’s UK leg in Nottingham: market research and validation, consulting with NTU academics, AI and business-model sessions, VentureHack and Global Entrepreneurship Week, a Venture Builder showcase, industry visits and a final pitch day.
    What happened
    STeP sent a first cohort in November 2024 and a second in November 2025, and hosted the NTU team in Thailand in December 2025.
    Track record
    In all: 30+ Thai entrepreneurs hosted in the UK under the STEAM Founder programme.
    Where it can lead
    In 2025 CBIT and STeP won a joint British Council grant.

    More about international founder sprints

  • Sister centres and long-term partnerships

    From one founder cohort to a national agreement and a sister centre in Thailand

    Who: Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) and Chiang Mai University’s Science and Technology Park (STeP).

    Read the full story

    The challenge
    Chiang Mai University is one of Thailand’s National Training Centres, with a mandate to lead international collaboration in AI, entrepreneurship education and venture building.
    What CBIT did
    CBIT built the relationship one step at a time: a founder cohort in the UK in 2024, a joint British Council grant in 2025, train-the-trainer in Thailand that December, then a national AI skills programme in 2026.
    What happened
    In April 2026 NTU’s Vice-Chancellor signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with MHESI in Bangkok, and a sister-centre agreement with STeP.
    Track record
    A national AI and entrepreneurship programme funded by Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) and delivered by CBIT and CMU STeP, founding sister centres under a five-year MoU.
    Where it can lead
    The sister centre hosts repeat programmes, soft landing for ventures and joint bids.

    More about sister centres

Start your own story

Choose the door that fits you. Each one leads to its services and a first step.

Founders and SMEs Business leaders and companies Research and university leaders Government leaders and international partners