Letter to Alyn Smith MSP. - Scottish Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education.

Dear Mr Smith,

Scotland's Intellectual Capital and an Opportunity for Scottish Innovation

I am writing to introduce GENERAL INTELLIGENCE PLC, a Scottish company established in 1896 and to bring to your attention a substantial portfolio of intellectual property which I believe could offer interesting opportunities for Scotland's universities, colleges, businesses and wider innovation ecosystem.

Your ministerial responsibilities bring together several areas which are fundamental to Scotland's future prosperity: innovation, technology, artificial intelligence, university research, tertiary education, skills development and the relationship between education and employment.

It is this relationship that I particularly wish to address.

Scotland has considerable intellectual, academic and technical resources. Its universities undertake important research; its colleges develop practical and vocational capability; and its businesses possess extensive knowledge of the industries in which they operate. The opportunity is to connect these resources more effectively, enabling intellectual property, research and specialist knowledge to generate practical applications, new commercial opportunities and lasting economic value.

I believe the work of GENERAL INTELLIGENCE PLC merits consideration in that context.

A Scottish company with an unusual intellectual-property portfolio

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE PLC is a Scottish company established in 1896. Its current activities include artificial intelligence consultancy and the development of intellectual property concerned with intelligence in its various forms.

The company has developed thirty named consultancy frameworks, supported by more than one hundred additional intelligence-related intellectual-property assets.

This is a substantial body of work concerned with a subject that is becoming increasingly important to virtually every sector of the economy: the understanding, development and application of intelligence.

The company's central proposition is:

Artificial intelligence is a means, not an end.

The purpose of artificial intelligence should be to improve the ability of people and organisations to understand information, exercise judgement, solve problems, make decisions, learn, innovate and create value.

The development of increasingly capable technology is only one part of this opportunity. Equally important is the ability to apply that technology intelligently within businesses, institutions and industries.

The company has therefore developed a portfolio which considers intelligence not simply as a technological discipline, but as a wider source of organisational, commercial and economic capability.

The thirty consultancy frameworks

The thirty frameworks are structured intellectual approaches developed for different commercial, industrial and professional contexts. They are consultancy frameworks and intellectual-property assets, rather than thirty artificial intelligence products, foundation models or deployed software systems.

They comprise:

  1. ABSOLUTE INTELLIGENCE® — Chartered financial analysts and investment analysis.
  2. ADAPTIVE INTELLIGENCE® — General insurance.
  3. ALTERNATIVE INTELLIGENCE® — Alternative investment analysis.
  4. APPLIED INTELLIGENCE® — Insurance underwriting.
  5. AUGMENTED® — Insurance.
  6. AUTHENTIC® — Specialist insurance.
  7. AUTONOMOUS® — Life assurance.
  8. AUTOTELIC® — Yacht insurance.
  9. BIONIC INTELLIGENCE® — Managing general agents.
  10. EMBODIED INTELLIGENCE® — Personal accident insurance.
  11. ENTERPRISE INTELLIGENCE® — Enterprise organisations.
  12. EXPONENTIAL INTELLIGENCE® — Redundancy insurance.
  13. FRONTIER INTELLIGENCE® — Offshore energy insurance.
  14. GENERAL INTELLIGENCE® — Asset management.
  15. GENIUS® — Investment banking.
  16. GENUINE INTELLIGENCE® — Jewellers' block insurance.
  17. HYPERINTELLIGENCE® — Commercial banking.
  18. INFINITE INTELLIGENCE® — Kidnap and ransom insurance.
  19. INTELLIGENCE® — Retail banking.
  20. NEURAL INTELLIGENCE® — General insurance agencies.
  21. REAL INTELLIGENCE® — Fine art and specie insurance.
  22. RECURSIVE INTELLIGENCE® — Reinsurance organisations.
  23. REFLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE® — Reinsurance brokers.
  24. SENTIENT® — Financial advisory.
  25. SINGULARITY® — General insurance.
  26. SUPERHUMAN® — Risk management.
  27. SUPERINTELLIGENCE® — Financial technology.
  28. TRUE INTELLIGENCE® — Chartered financial planners.
  29. UNIVERSAL INTELLIGENCE® — Film and television production insurance.
  30. X® — Building societies.

The range of applications is deliberate. It reflects the belief that intelligence is not the exclusive preserve of technology companies. It is relevant to financial services, insurance, energy, professional services, creative industries and the wider business community.

The frameworks provide a starting point for considering how intelligence can be understood and applied within particular sectors and how artificial intelligence may contribute to their development.

An opportunity for Scotland's universities and colleges

One of the most interesting possibilities concerns the relationship between the consultancy frameworks and Scotland's tertiary education system.

Universities and colleges are not simply providers of qualifications. They are important sources of research, specialist knowledge, technical expertise, professional development and future business capability.

I believe there may be opportunities to examine the frameworks in collaboration with appropriate Scottish institutions, with a view to identifying practical applications in several areas.

University research and knowledge exchange

Individual frameworks could provide material for academic examination, applied research and interdisciplinary work. Their underlying themes may be relevant to business schools, computing and technology departments, financial and professional studies, engineering and other disciplines concerned with the application of intelligence.

There may also be opportunities to examine how artificial intelligence can be integrated into existing professional and industrial practices and how its contribution can be assessed.

Student development and professional education

The frameworks could provide a basis for exploring the relationship between intelligence, technology, judgement and professional practice.

This may be relevant to postgraduate study, executive education, professional development and specialist programmes designed to prepare people for an economy in which artificial intelligence will increasingly influence the nature of work.

The objective would be to complement existing academic provision, not to create unnecessary duplication.

Colleges, apprenticeships and technical skills

Scotland's colleges and apprenticeship system have an important role in ensuring that the benefits of technological progress extend beyond the university sector.

There is a practical opportunity to consider how intelligence-related approaches could inform vocational learning, workplace development and the application of artificial intelligence within particular industries.

This is especially relevant to businesses seeking to improve productivity while developing the skills of their existing workforce.

Research commercialisation and spin-outs

Where academic research, specialist knowledge or intellectual property has a credible commercial application, there may be opportunities to develop it further through collaboration with businesses, research institutions and appropriate commercial partners.

The objective should be to help translate intellectual work into practical applications, new services, commercial propositions and, where justified, new enterprises.

A benefit to Scottish business and industry

The portfolio also offers a potential basis for engagement with Scottish businesses.

Many organisations are considering how artificial intelligence might improve their operations, but the challenge is not simply choosing a technology. It is identifying where meaningful improvements can be made, how systems should be integrated, what risks need to be addressed and how the resulting benefits can be measured.

The frameworks could provide a structured starting point for examining these questions in different sectors.

I see particular scope for considering applications in:

  • Financial services: intelligence in banking, investment management, financial technology and financial advice.
  • Insurance and risk: underwriting, risk management, reinsurance and specialist insurance markets.
  • Energy and industrial activity: the application of intelligence in complex, capital-intensive and technically demanding environments.
  • Technology and professional services: the relationship between artificial intelligence, organisational capability and commercial performance.
  • Creative industries: the changing relationship between human creativity, artificial intelligence and the production of intellectual property.

Scotland need not restrict its ambitions to adopting technologies developed elsewhere. It can also develop specialist intellectual property, professional expertise and commercial applications of its own.

That is an opportunity to create value within Scotland, strengthen Scottish businesses and develop propositions capable of serving international markets.

Keeping intellectual and economic value in Scotland

There is an important distinction between attracting technology into Scotland and developing intellectual property in Scotland.

Both matter, but the latter has particular significance for long-term economic development. Intellectual property can provide the foundation for specialist businesses, consultancy services, licensing opportunities, commercial partnerships and internationally relevant expertise.

I believe Scotland should seek to strengthen its ability to develop and retain such assets and to create the conditions in which they can be developed commercially.

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE PLC represents an example of a Scottish company with a long history and a substantial body of intellectual property in a field of increasing international importance.

The company's intention is to see its work developed and applied constructively. There may be opportunities to involve Scottish universities, colleges, businesses and other appropriate partners in examining the portfolio and identifying where its commercial and educational potential is strongest.

Any such work would need to be properly assessed. The existence of intellectual property does not, by itself, establish market demand or commercial viability. The important next step is to identify credible applications, appropriate partners and measurable outcomes.

A possible Scottish initiative

I would be interested in exploring whether a modest, structured exercise could establish the potential contribution of the portfolio to Scotland's innovation and skills ecosystem.

This could begin with an independent assessment of the thirty frameworks, identifying:

  1. Their relevance to Scottish industries and commercial priorities.
  2. Potential applications within Scottish businesses and public institutions.
  3. Opportunities for university research and knowledge exchange.
  4. Possible links with colleges, apprenticeships and professional development.
  5. Opportunities for collaboration with Scottish technology companies and research organisations.
  6. The potential for commercial development, licensing, consultancy and international expansion.

Such an assessment would help distinguish those frameworks with the clearest practical potential from those requiring further development.

It would also provide a sound basis for deciding whether any subsequent collaboration, pilot activity or commercial initiative would be worthwhile.

I am not suggesting that the Scottish Government should endorse the frameworks, nor that they should displace existing programmes or institutional priorities. Rather, I believe they deserve an opportunity to be examined on their merits, with the potential benefits to Scotland considered objectively.

A long-term Scottish opportunity

The future economic position of Scotland will depend, in part, on its ability to connect education, research, technology, intellectual property and enterprise.

Artificial intelligence will be an increasingly important part of that future. However, the wider opportunity is to develop a society and economy capable of using intelligence more effectively: in its businesses, universities, colleges, institutions and communities.

I believe Scotland has an opportunity to make a distinctive contribution to this field. It can combine its academic strengths, technical capabilities, industrial knowledge and entrepreneurial talent with the development of original intellectual property and commercially valuable applications.

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE PLC would welcome the opportunity to contribute to that ambition.

I would be pleased to provide you with a fuller presentation of the company's intellectual-property portfolio and its thirty consultancy frameworks and to discuss whether there may be a constructive basis for engagement with the relevant parts of the Scottish Government, Scotland's universities and colleges, or the wider business and innovation community.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

X from GENERAL INTELLIGENCE PLC

X is a registered trade mark of GENERAL INTELLIGENCE PLC.
It was registered in 1896 with company number: SC003234