From AI Governance to AI Transfer: Why FITLO Is Evolving Its Focus
FITLO is evolving from the Institute for AI Governance into the Institute for AI Transfer. The new name does not represent a departure from governance. Instead, it reflects a broader value proposition and places even greater emphasis on how AI research expertise can be translated into concrete outcomes for organisations.
A new name for a sharper mission. From AI Governance to AI Transfer.
FITLO was founded to support organisations in shaping artificial intelligence responsibly and effectively. Its initial focus was on the roles, competencies and structures required for successful organisational AI transformation.
These topics remain highly relevant. However, our work with businesses, universities and research partners has revealed an even more fundamental challenge. Organisations do not necessarily lack ideas, data or initial AI projects. What they often lack is the capacity to develop the resulting insights systematically and make them useful to the organisation.
Valuable outcomes frequently remain confined to individual projects. Development initiatives are not pursued because suitable funding pathways or research partners are missing. Critical roles remain vacant because the required tasks, responsibilities and competencies have not been clearly defined.
This is the transfer gap that FITLO addresses.
What AI Transfer means to FITLO
For us, AI Transfer means connecting research expertise with concrete questions arising from organisational practice. The objective is not merely to assess existing knowledge, but to turn it into usable outcomes and clear next steps.
Transfer therefore involves more than communicating research findings. It occurs when the experience and data generated by an AI project are developed into academically robust insights. It occurs when a technological or organisational development question is transformed into a fundable project. It also occurs when an initially unclear staffing need becomes a precise role profile and a suitable appointment.
The institute’s new name makes this ambition immediately visible:
FITLO connects practical AI initiatives with research, funding opportunities and the people who take responsibility for implementation.
Three pathways to transfer
FITLO’s development is reflected in three interconnected service areas.
FITLO RESEARCH
AI projects generate data, experience and insights whose value often extends beyond the individual initiative. FITLO supports organisations in examining these results through research methods and developing suitable findings into contributions for academic journals and conferences. This enables practical experience to be documented transparently, made visible within the professional and academic community and used to support future decisions.
FITLO FUNDING
Ambitious AI developments require time, expertise and financial resources. FITLO assesses which funding pathways are suitable for an initiative, develops the underlying project rationale and, where required, brings together appropriate businesses, universities and research institutions. This enables organisations to transform development questions into fundable projects and cover part of the associated costs through suitable funding instruments.
FITLO SEARCH
AI initiatives do not fail solely because of technology. They frequently stall because responsibilities remain unclear or essential competencies are missing. FITLO identifies the strategic, technical, organisational and facilitating functions required for a specific initiative.
Based on a research-derived role and competency model, we develop precise search profiles. FITLO then supports organisations in identifying and connecting with suitable specialists and executives for critical AI roles.
Governance remains an essential component
he change of name does not reduce the importance of AI governance. Responsibilities, decision-making structures, competencies and the organisational integration of AI remain central to our work.
However, AI Transfer describes the broader context. Governance creates the conditions under which AI can be managed responsibly. Transfer ensures that research findings, technological developments and organisational requirements are brought together and translated into tangible outcomes.
AI Governance therefore remains a core foundation of FITLO’s work. AI Transfer describes its overarching mission.
Research expertise for concrete outcomes
FITLO operates at the interface between organisational practice and research. Organisations gain access to research methods, academic expertise, funding mechanisms and specialised networks without having to build all these capabilities internally for individual initiatives.
The transition to FITLO | Institute for AI Transfer communicates this role more clearly. It reflects our commitment to moving beyond analysis and recommendations by developing usable outcomes together with organisations.
These outcomes may take the form of an academic publication, a fundable development project or the successful appointment of a specialist or executive to a critical AI role.
Knowledge becomes transfer when it produces an outcome that genuinely moves an organisation forward.
