SME AI Outreach in Finland—A Case Study

This paper presents a project (work in progress) where entrepreneurship and higher education in AI (from Master level to postdoc level) are integrated in order to produce a dual effect; helping SMEs to gain insight in how AI can aid in the corporate environment and to expose AI researchers to the real-life situations in the company world. If successful, the companies are made ready for the AI revolution and the researchers more equipped for corporate settings. The project is ongoing, so this paper addresses a work-in-progress project. The paper reflects on the project as well on some aspects that need to be highlighted due to earlier research in the area. There are also some insights from the first case study that was presented in December 2024, with 7 more to come during 2025. Finally, some conclusions are drawn and some further research directions is pointed out. The project was funded by Liedon Säästöpankki säätiö and the support is gratefully acknowledged.