A pioneering AI accelerator has helped entrepreneurs turn ideas into working products in just six weeks.

Innovations range from technology to help deaf people understand phone calls and speed up the journey of new medicines to patients, to a construction tool that turns hours of paperwork into minutes and a ticketing system helping a family fruit farm cut costs and create jobs.

The University of Salford's BUILD AI programme was created to give non-technical founders, entrepreneurs and SME owners the skills, tools and confidence to harness AI and build for themselves.

Across the 12 participants, the programme has already helped take four products to launch or near-launch, put six working prototypes into testing and accelerated two existing technology ventures.

BUILD AI (Business Uplift, Innovation and Lean Development through Artificial Intelligence) was developed by the University of Salford's Centre for Sustainable Innovation (CSI) and delivered in collaboration with NoCodeLab.ai.

The programme combined hands-on AI development with commercialisation support and mentoring, helping participants rapidly build and test their ideas while exploring how they could become viable products and businesses.

Dr Ann Mulhaney, Associate Professor for Change Management at the University of Salford's Centre for Sustainable Innovation, said: “When we created BUILD AI, we wanted to open up AI development to people with brilliant ideas but who might never have thought of themselves as tech builders.

These entrepreneurs know their businesses, their industries and the problems they want to solve inside out. What they haven't always had are the technical skills or resources to turn that knowledge into a product. We wanted to change that.

“In just six weeks they've built working products, tested ideas with real customers, launched new solutions and taken businesses forward at incredible speed. That's what excites me about AI. Put these tools into the hands of talented, ambitious people, give them the right support and confidence, and it's amazing what they can build.”

James Bulmer

A standout success was by James Bulmer, of Kenyon Hall Farm in Warrington, where his family has farmed for more than 500 years.

He built his own bespoke ticketing platform to replace the costly third-party system used for the farm's popular fruit picking. The platform is now live and used by around 10,000 people a week during peak periods. It has cut annual software costs by more than 90%, saving thousands of pounds which the farm has been able to reinvest in recruiting more seasonal staff and improving the visitor experience.

James said: “What started as a six-week programme has become something we now rely on every day, helping thousands of customers enjoy their visit to the farm while saving the business thousands of pounds every year.
“BUILD AI hasn't just given me one solution. It's completely changed how I think about solving challenges within our business.”

After losing his hearing in 2017, Rochdale engineer David Butler has been on a mission to make phone calls easier for people facing the same barriers. The programme helped him turn almost a decade of research into E.ai.R, a working prototype that captions conversations in real time.
David said: “I've gone from having all the pieces of the puzzle to having something we can put into the hands of real people, test and develop, and which could ultimately help millions of people facing the same communication barriers that I've experienced myself.”

Elsewhere, entrepreneurs have developed technology to improve support for vulnerable children, track recovery from injury and coach young professionals to communicate with confidence. Others have created tools to preserve family memories, assess whether businesses are ready to grow and help manufacturers manage vital compliance.

Participants are now taking their innovations into the next stage, from customer testing and product refinement to commercial launch, investment and further development.
Sara Simeone, founder of NoCodeLab.ai, said: “One of the most exciting things about AI-assisted development is the speed at which entrepreneurs can now experiment. They can build something, put it in front of users, learn what works and what doesn't, and improve it without spending months and huge amounts of money getting to that point.

“BUILD AI gave participants the space to do that alongside other founders, mentors and experts who could challenge their thinking and share their experience. That combination of rapid experimentation and a supportive community has helped people make huge strides in a very short space of time.”