Proposed initiative · development phase

From AI adoption to measurable SME transformation.

An applied research initiative exploring how Scottish SMEs can move from AI experimentation to measurable improvements in productivity, organisational capability, workforce outcomes and responsible implementation.

The SME journey.

A lightweight expression of interest, under three minutes.

Eligibility & assessment

Digital maturity, AI readiness and operational assessment.

Workflow mapping

Identify a real, measurable candidate workflow.

Human review & selection

Reviewed by people; scores are decision support only.

Baseline & intervention

Measured starting point, then a bounded implementation.

Longitudinal follow-up

Outcomes tracked to 90 days and optional 6–12 months.

What gets measured.

ProductivityTime per task, throughput, backlog, cycle time.

FinancialProcess cost, labour-cost proxy, software and compute spend.

QualityError and rework rates, accuracy, escalation rate.

CustomerResponse and resolution time, satisfaction where appropriate.

AdoptionActive users, usage frequency, abandonment, workarounds.

WorkforcePerceived productivity, workload, autonomy, trust, training.

GovernanceHuman overrides, incidents, policy exceptions, escalation.

TechnicalLatency, availability, failure rate, maintenance time.

AI economicsAPI/compute spend per output, infrastructure, support burden.

Nine outcome domains, each metric with provenance — system-generated, structured observation, management estimate or self-report. AI-generated prose is never the source of truth for a numeric result.

The proposed research model.

Baseline

A pre-intervention reference point and KPI set for one real workflow.

Intervention

A bounded implementation, vendor-neutral, delivered against that workflow.

Measurement

Operational, workforce and governance outcomes, each with full provenance.

Evidence

Findings for the SME and the research record — including non-adoption and failure.

Proposed pilot — Cohort 0 (working design, unfunded).

6–10

Scottish SMEs · target 8

sectors × 2, for comparison

week core programme

technical delivery waves

WK 00 · BaselineWK 06 · Design + buildWK 12 · DeploymentWK 18 · MeasurementWK 24 · Review

Cohort 0 is a proposed working configuration — not an open or funded programme. Any figures describe a versioned design under discussion with potential academic hosts and funders, subject to recruitment and governance.

Four routes in. One integrated record.

Scottish SMEs

Universities & researchers

Explore academic collaboration, methodology, ethics governance and research roles.

Explore collaboration →

Technology & funders

Offer credits, compute, expertise or in-kind support under documented, independence-preserving terms.

Support the Lab →

Join the team

Researchers, technical and operational contributors interested in future involvement.

Research integrity, by design.

Research-led

A measured research intervention, not a consultancy service.

Vendor-neutral

No preferred model, cloud or supplier — findings over adoption.

Human-in-the-loop

No automated selection, rejection or conclusion.

Failures are findings

Non-adoption and failure are recorded as results.

Consent, versioned

Separate consent per purpose, with withdrawal.

One continuous record

Registration, pilot and follow-up share one organisation.