How R&D supports AI advancements within healthcare
Modern medicine has resulted in an increase in life expectancy however this does not come with a proportional increase in health care systems which now face a growing challenge.
Building on robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of transforming healthcare and helping address some of the health system challenges by executing tasks that are usually done by humans, but in significantly less time and at less cost. It offers several advantages over traditional clinical decision-making techniques. Learning algorithms can become more accurate as they interact with training data, allowing humans to gain extraordinary insight into diagnostics, treatment flexibility and patient results.
For UK companies working in this sector, research and development (R&D) tax credits are a valuable government incentive aimed at supporting your work. The scheme acknowledges and rewards the benefits of your innovation to the wider economy and society. With AI being one of the world’s highest-growth industries, funding was up by 108% in 2021. Time spent training AI systems to use data and guiding the system through making distinctions could qualify for R&D tax credit. Depending on the size and profitability of your company, for SMEs the benefit can be as much as 33p for every £1 spent on qualifying R&D. Large companies receive around 11p. The different categories that AI R&D claim costs fall into are – employee costs, third-party costs (subcontractors/externally provided workers) and consumables (including software licence costs).
In 2020, UK was rated the number one European destination for private investment in AI, and number three in the world (behind the US and China). CognitionX is the AI advice platform that connects every organisation with a global on-demand network of AI experts and was commissioned by the Mayor of London to map AI innovation across London and identify the capital’s unique strengths as a global hub of AI.
The healthcare industry is ready for some key changes with the NHS working on a world-leading pilot involving algorithmic impact assessments in healthcare to eradicate biases in algorithms. The Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in additional strain on the NHS (resource, funding etc), hence deploying AI has huge potential. The UK government announced a £36 million boost in 2021 for AI technologies to help revolutionise care and accelerate diagnosis.
From chronic diseases and cancer to radiology and risk assessment, there are unending opportunities to leverage technology to implement more accurate and impactful interventions at precisely the right moment in a patient’s care. Branches of AI, such as natural language processing, image analysis and data processing, have the potential to qualify for the R&D tax credit scheme.
With AI and machine learning progressively becoming an integral part of many companies that are investing heavily in their development, we can imagine a future where AI has enabled a personalised and real-time treatment for all. Investments in AI technology can make a substantial impact on your business, and the costs of that investment could be offset through the R&D tax credit.
Moore Kingston Smith’s R&D team will work with you to identify all the qualifying activities and expenditure using a claim methodology tailored to suit your needs. Our specialist team of scientists, engineers and tax advisers will aim to keep your time investment to a minimum, while ensuing your claim is robust and maximised in value, thus leaving you to concentrate on running your business.