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UK firms move from AI experimentation to measurable results as the Project Economy matures

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Nearly half of UK organisations report productivity or cost improvements from AI, with a growing cohort (12%) already achieving significant measurable return on investmentNearly one third (29%) of UK firms say operationalising and optimising AI is a strategic priority55% of UK firms now describe themselves as ‘advanced’ or ‘mature’ in their digital transformation journeys

LONDON, April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — New research released today from Deltek, the intelligent platform for project-based businesses, reveals that the UK’s project-based businesses are entering a new phase of digital maturity. Organisations are moving beyond “experimenting” with artificial intelligence (AI) to embedding it throughout the project lifecycle, leading to measurable, real-world business impacts.

The research, conducted across UK-based architecture, engineering and consultancy firms as part of Deltek’s 7th Annual Clarity Trends and Insights for Architecture, Engineering and Consulting Firms report, finds that 55% of UK organisations describe themselves as either ‘advanced’ or ‘mature’ in their digital transformation journeys.

The proportion identifying as ‘advanced’ has fallen from 20% in 2025 to 15% in 2026, highlighting a shift in how organisations are approaching digital transformation, rather than a slowdown in progress. Instead, digital transformation is increasingly being embedded into day-to-day operations through closer integration between business and IT systems. As the UK market matures, expectations around integration are rising, prompting some organisations to reassess their level of digital maturity.

AI shifts from experimentation to measurable results

As organisations build on these digital foundations, AI is becoming a central strategic focus. The research shows that 29% of UK organisations identify operationalising and optimising AI as a strategic priority, as firms move beyond experimentation and begin embedding AI into areas like project forecasting, planning, reporting and resource management.

Early results are already emerging. Nearly half of UK organisations report moderate productivity or cost improvements from AI, with a growing group (12%) already seeing significant measurable return on investment as adoption scales across the business.

Financial discipline and project visibility remain key

Alongside AI adoption, firms are also strengthening operational and financial management as projects grow more complex. The research shows that implementation of AI is expected to be one of the biggest drivers of profitability in 2026, while better cost control is also seen as a key factor in improving financial performance as organisations manage increasingly complex project portfolios.

Confidence in project tracking is also high, with 85% of UK firms reporting high confidence in tracking project profitability, while around three quarters say they track key indicators such as utilisation and overhead rates successfully. This reflects the growing role of digital systems in supporting project visibility and performance management.

Building resilience for the next phase of the Project Economy

As AI adoption accelerates across the Project Economy, workforce capabilities are also evolving. The research identifies AI literacy as the number one skill organisations say will be needed over the next three years, while adoption of AI is identified as the number one project management challenge for firms, highlighting the importance of equipping teams with the skills needed to support increasingly digital project environments.

Neil Davidson, Group Vice President, Professional Services Sector at Deltek comments, “Architecture, engineering, and consulting firms are at a genuine inflection point. After years of steady growth and significant investment in digital foundations, the industry is now asking a harder question: how do we convert that investment into measurable productivity gains? The firms that answer it decisively, embedding the right technology into the heart of how they run projects and serve clients, will set the benchmark for the next decade.

“Firms have spent the last few years building the digital foundations needed to modernise how they run projects. What we’re seeing now is a shift from experimentation to real results as AI becomes embedded into core business workflows. Many organisations are already seeing measurable ROI from AI investments, driving clear improvements in efficiency, insight, and overall business performance. As adoption becomes more consistent across organisations, that value is set to scale even further.

“For project-based businesses, the opportunity now is to turn that momentum into stronger project insight, better decision-making, and improved financial performance.”

Methodology
The online survey was conducted in January 2026 with 375 senior strategic decision-makers, including CEOs/Managing Directors (MDs), C-suite-level directors, and heads of relevant departments such as finance, operations, delivery, and projects from the UK, Germany, and Australia. To qualify for the survey, architecture, engineering, and consulting firms needed a minimum of 20 employees, with no maximum workforce size.

About Deltek
Deltek is the intelligent platform that powers the project lifecycle — from ERP and accounting to project bidding, planning, delivery, and analysis. Trusted by 30,000 organizations across government contracting, aerospace and defense, architecture and engineering, construction, and consulting, Deltek delivers the speed, clarity, and control needed when the stakes are high. Learn more at deltek.com

CONTACT: press@deltek.com 

SOURCE Deltek

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Agenda for the 4th Hong Kong Clinical-driven Robotics and Embodied AI Technology (CREATE) Symposium Officially Released

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Leading Experts from Medicine, Research, Industry and Investment Revealed

HONG KONG, Sept. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Scheduled for September 22–23, 2026, the 4th Hong Kong Clinical-driven Robotics and Embodied AI Technology (CREATE) Symposium will be held at the Charles K. Kao Auditorium in Hong Kong Science Park. The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), Hong Kong Institute of Science & Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), organizes the event, with co-organization by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP).

The CREATE Symposium is dedicated to building a platform for in-depth dialogue between clinical medicine and cutting-edge technology. Having been held successfully for multiple editions, it has become a flagship international symposium on embodied intelligence in healthcare. This year’s event will focus on the practical clinical needs of more than ten specialties, including neurology, neurosurgery, respiratory intervention, otolaryngology, ultrasound imaging, and sleep medicine. It will bring together world-leading academicians, hospital directors, department leaders, and innovative scholars at the intersection of medicine and engineering to explore clinical applications and translation pathways of AI and robotics technologies, accelerating innovation and industrialization in global healthcare technology.

Symposium Highlights

This year’s symposium features a special “Hospital Presidents’ Roundtable” session. Eight hospital leaders from the Greater Bay Area will engage in in-depth discussions on integrating medicine and engineering, smart hospital development, and practical applications of medical AI.

The distinguished panel includes:

Linbo CAI, President of Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, Chief Physician, and Doctoral Supervisor at Jinan University.

Kenneth Man-Chee CHEUNG, President and Hospital Chief Executive of The University of Hong Kong – Shenzhen Hospital, The Jessie Ho Professor in Spine Surgery and Chair Professor, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, HKU.

Kin-lai CHUNG, CEO of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Medical Centre.

Xiquan HU, Director, Management Committee of Lingnan Hospital; Director and Chief Physician, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University; President-Elect, Chinese Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chinese Medical Association.

Lijian JIN, Dean of Faculty of Dentistry, Modern Dental Group Professor in Clinical Dental Science, HKU.

Wing-yee SO, Hospital Chief Executive of North District Hospital, Hospital Authority.

Kenneth Hing Lim TSANG, Regional CEO of IHH Healthcare North Asia, CEO of Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong.

Yi XIONG, Executive Director of Shenzhen Luohu District People’s Hospital.

The symposium will also launch CARES 4.0, a multi-modal medical AI large model and intelligent agent system for healthcare scenarios. Concurrently, a dedicated MedTech innovation exhibition will showcase cutting-edge medical hardware, AI algorithms, and other innovative achievements, demonstrating the latest capabilities in embodied intelligent healthcare.

As a co-organizer of this year’s symposium, HKSTP will host a special session titled “Empowering Founders, Enabling Growth: HKSTP’s Entrepreneurship Journey from Idea to Commercialization”. The session will introduce HKSTP’s life and health technology ecosystem and startup community, share The Road to Commercialization: Insights and Success Stories from HKSTP Startups, and feature the Roundtable Discussion: Empowering Value Creation and Growth through Strategic Partnerships.

Notably, the CREATE Symposium will debut a new “Roadshow Session” on September 23. The session will connect top-tier investment institutions with innovative companies. Participating companies will showcase products and technologies while receiving professional feedback from leading investors.

Investors from renowned institutions including Guangyuan Investment, Jiuguang Capital, Allwinner Technology, Yuexiu Group, Yanghe Investment, CICC Capital, Jianyuan Tianhua etc. have been invited to serve as judges. Invitations are also being extended to institutions such as Shenzhen Angel Fund of Funds, CCB International etc.

This year’s symposium will fully integrate MEDLing, CAIR’s proprietary intelligent conference assistant. The system has been customized and optimized for medical terminology, providing real-time speech transcription in Mandarin, English, and Cantonese, as well as high-precision transcript recording and simultaneous translation throughout the event. This will enable attendees from diverse fields and countries to communicate seamlessly and enjoy an enhanced conference experience.

Conference Information

Date: September 22–23, 2026 (Tuesday–Wednesday)
Venue: Charles K. Kao Auditorium, Hong Kong Science Park
Event Details and Latest Schedule: https://www.cair-cas.org.hk/article/662
Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/r/ePnu6HMySU?origin=lprLink

This year’s symposium features a dedicated healthcare technology exhibition area in the Atrium Link of Hong Kong Science Park. During the event, multiple guided tours will be organized to facilitate exchanges among attendees, academic experts, and industry representatives, fostering in-depth cross-sector collaboration.

Currently, only a limited number of booths remain available in the corporate exhibition area. Interested companies are invited to review partnership options

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/agenda-for-the-4th-hong-kong-clinical-driven-robotics-and-embodied-ai-technology-create-symposium-officially-released-302876370.html

SOURCE Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), Hong Kong Institute of Science & Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Scholarship America Marks 25th Anniversary of 9/11 by Honoring Its Support for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund

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NEW YORK, Sept. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Scholarship America today marks the 25th anniversary of the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which it established and has administered since the fund’s founding in the direct aftermath of the September 11th attacks.

On September 11, 2001, the unthinkable happened, and the nation was forever changed. Thousands of children, including those of Ground Zero first responders, lost a parent or watched one become permanently disabled. In response, Scholarship America helped establish the Families of Freedom Fund to protect the dreams of these students, which it has proudly administered for more than two decades.

In the years since, the Fund’s scope has expanded to include the children of rescue and rebuilding workers who developed long-term and chronic illnesses tied to their service, nearly doubling the number of students eligible for support. Meeting that growing need has required an equally significant response: more than 20,000 individuals, corporations, foundations, and organizations – including longtime supporters Citi and Strada Education Foundation – have contributed to the Fund, helping award $193 million to 3,877 students who lost a parent or had one permanently disabled as a result of the September 11th attacks and the recovery efforts that followed.

“From the moment the horrific attacks unfolded, we knew the impact would echo across generations,” said Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development at Citi and President of the Citi Foundation. “We are proud of the work we did with organizations across the country to create this Fund, making a lasting commitment to support the educational needs of the children of victims.”

The Fund’s commitment will carry through 2030, when its youngest beneficiaries complete their undergraduate education.

“Twenty-five years later, we still remember how this Fund began—born out of one of the worst days in our nation’s history in an effort to ensure that these victims’ children wouldn’t lose their futures along with their loved ones,” said Mike Nylund, President and CEO of Scholarship America. “A promise was made to these students, and Scholarship America has been honored to help keep it for the past twenty-five years. Watching them graduate, build careers, and give back to their own communities has been one of the great privileges of this organization’s history.  On behalf of every student this Fund has supported, I am incredibly grateful for the generosity that made it possible.”

About Scholarship America

Since 1958, Scholarship America has been committed to breaking down financial barriers to higher education, turning the generosity of donors into life-changing opportunities for students across the country. To date, the organization has distributed more than $6 billion in scholarships to over 3.5 million students, making it the nation’s leading nonprofit scholarship administrator. Scholarship America also partners with individuals, foundations, small businesses, and nearly half of today’s Fortune 500 companies to deliver end-to-end scholarship program management for students pursuing degrees and certifications at technical, vocational, and two- and four-year colleges and universities.

Contacts:

Claire Berge Schmidt
Scholarship America
cbergeschmidt@scholarshipamerica.org

Logan Flynn
Hiltzik Strategies
lflynn@hstrategies.com

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SOURCE Scholarship America

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The 26th CIFIT Opens in Xiamen, Merchants from 129 Countries and Regions Seek Business Opportunities

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XIAMEN, China, Sept. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A report from IQINGDAO:

The 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) opened in Xiamen on September 8. More than 1,200 government agencies and business delegations from 129 countries and regions as well as 30 international organizations gathered at the event to explore opportunities for two‑way investment and cooperation.

As a landmark platform for “Invest in China”, this year’s CIFIT revolves around three major sections: “Invest in China”, “Chinese Investment” and “International Investment”. For the first time, it features Finland and Saudi Arabia as dual Guest Countries of Honor, and Guangdong and Qinghai as dual Guest Provinces of Honor.

Both the exhibition area and the number of exhibitors in the financial zone have doubled at this edition. A special zone for the Cross‑border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) makes its debut at CIFIT. A new special zone for new quality productive forces has been set up, focusing on cutting‑edge sectors including artificial intelligence and low‑altitude economy.

Over 40 key investment‑promotion events will be held during the fair, alongside nearly 100 supporting activities such as capital matchmaking and special‑topic roadshows. The Online CIFIT platform pools resources including investment‑attraction projects, corporate financing and industrial funds. Empowered by digital technologies, it enables easier project sourcing and more efficient capital matching.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/the-26th-cifit-opens-in-xiamen-merchants-from-129-countries-and-regions-seek-business-opportunities-302876390.html

SOURCE Iqingdao

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