The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years has been completely disruptive and game-changing. It has reshaped industries, transforming workflows, and opening up new possibilities for innovation and efficiency.

Integrating AI into business is key to boosting competitiveness, driving innovation, and building a more sustainable future, as AI enables companies to optimize processes, reduce environmental impact, and remain agile in a fast-evolving market.

In July 2024, we launched a survey among our network to get to know how are clusters using and integrating AI. This survey aimed to identify cases from the TCI Network on how AI is being used by cluster companies and cluster organizations and capture evidence on how cluster collaboration is evolving through AI.

We presented the main conclusions at the 27th TCI Global Conference in Chihuahua, Mexico (October 8-10). 

Key findings

• AI is seen as highly useful, especially in customer experience, innovation, and operations. While some categories like cluster collaboration, broader connections, and sustainability show more variability in perceived value.
• While cluster teams/organizations have a leading role in promoting AI and fostering collaborative AI projects among the cluster members, we also see they are adapting their own operations to leverage AI in a way that finally leads to more effective collaboration in the cluster and the overall innovation ecosystem.
• Clusters are already exploring various AI tools to boost team efficiency and productivity, using applications like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Notion, and Claude, among others.

The survey is open and we will be tracking its evolution over the next few months. So, if you didn´t yet, you still can participate. No matter where you are in your AI journey, this survey can be a handy checklist. Use it to see how you're doing, spot areas to improve, and pick up tips for making your AI cluster journey successful.