The aim of the project is to introduce the possibilities of AI to Lapland's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to create agile AI pilots based on the needs of the target group, while developing Lapland University of Applied Sciences' AI expertise to a national top level. The focus of the project is on the utilisation of basic AI tools as part of everyday work done on the keyboard, in digital marketing and on improving customer experiences and processes in SMEs through AI data analyses. AI will help to make everyday work more efficient, save costs and provide better services to meet real customer needs. AI has emerged as the most important new technology in all sectors over the past year and changes it will bring are expected to be even greater than with the internet. Many SMEs in Lapland and a significant proportion of the staff at the Lapland University of Applied Sciences have a thin, science fiction-based understanding of AI. According to a survey by the First Artificial Intelligence Accelerator (FAIA), only 2.4% of companies with more than five employees in Finland have adopted AI. To reduce resistance to change, the project will identify key people from SMEs and from Lapland University of Applied Sciences to become AI mentors in their own organisations during the project, using the so-called AI ambassador model. One of the key objectives of the project is to increase AI skills of the entire staff of Lapland University of Applied Sciences. After the project, staff of Lapland University of Applied Sciences will be able to train AI experts based on the needs of the Lapland region. The project addresses the need of the target group to have access to development environments and tools where they can experiment with low thresholds on how AI can be used in practice to improve their business. The project's AI pilots will follow agile development methodologies, which are particularly suited to innovative and complex development projects with rapidly changing environments. The project is divided into five work packages, which are interlinked and partly overlapping in time: Work package 1: Identifying AI opportunities in Lapland's key business sectors (1.9.2024 - 30.6.2025) Work package 2: Demo events and testing of AI opportunities in Lapland (1.4.2025 - 31.3.2027) Work package 3: Agile AI pilots (1.1.2026 - 31.3.2027) Work package 4: Multichannel communication (1.9.2024 - 31.8.2027) Work package 5: Project management (1.9.2024 - 31.8.2027) Key results of the Lapland’s AI accelerator project: • Demo events (10 events) and trials on the potential of AI in Lapland, with the participation of SMEs from the Lapland region (50 participants) • Agile AI pilots in Lapland's key business sectors implemented (8) • AI mentors ready to work in their organisations (20 persons) • "Lappi AI Slush" (working title) final event as a hybrid implementation on the project’s results • ”Louhi" -Lapland's AI-tool online game, by which a player can develop his AI-competences and find suitable AI-tools for Lapland's business environment • Lapland AI accelerator’s model for free use and integrated into teaching activities of Lapland University of Applied Sciences The long-term impact of the project will be that the use of AI will become an integral part of the operations and cooperation of Lapland's SMEs, resulting in a significant increase in the international competitiveness and innovation capacity of the Lapland region. Students graduating from the Lapland University of Applied Sciences will be able to use AI in a versatile way when entering the workforce. Lapland will develop as a vibrant region and will attract more external actors to establish themselves in the region due to its highly skilled workforce.