Last month, Launchpad Build AI hosted an exclusive summit in Edinburgh, Scotland, to discuss the future of AI and robotics.  We were privileged to have the event covered in a series of articles by leading publication, Newsweek.  In this post, the third of four, we look back at the event and showcase some of the insights it revealed.

Once the pipers packed up and Launchpad Build AI’s World of Tomorrow summit moved from Edinburgh Castle into the working panel sessions, the mood shifted from ceremony to hard questions.

Held inside The Caves (a converted stables on Niddry Street in the heart of the Old Town) the panels kept circling one tension: as Newsweek’s Megan Carnegie put it in the third of her articles about the Summit “software is racing ahead, while factories and supply chains still move too slowly.”

Chorus.ai founder Roy Raanani named the bottleneck directly, telling the Summit that AI is in such demand, that “the bottleneck to growth is in the upstream supply chain given the time needed to build factories and components.” 

In a market that rewards speed, he argued that long-term supply relationships with infrastructure providers have become one of the few real advantages available to startups working in the physical world.

Simulation emerged as a recurring answer to that speed problem. Our CEO Jon Quick noted that digital twins let teams “tweak, simulate and refine in a much tighter loop” before ever touching physical hardware, though panelists were candid that the models behind these simulations remain imperfect and still under-trusted.

That gap between capability and trust ran through the day’s toughest conversations. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Alex Sobolev flagged the liability problem at the center of AI’s move into physical systems: “When AI goes wrong, there’s huge uncertainty around who is responsible, especially when causation is difficult to establish in a black-box system with no clear explanation for how a decision was reached.”

Speakers repeatedly returned to autonomous vehicles as the cautionary tale for what happens when promise outpaces proof.

According to our own Vice President of Artificial Intelligence, Yannis Georgas, Europe is firmly in the driving seat when it comes to regulation.  Newsweek summarized his point: “AI models controlling physical machinery are categorized as ‘High-Risk’…meaning systems shouldn’t be pushed into production without robust simulation and strong data foundations to verify safety first.”

A lot remains to be worked out for AI’s potential in the manufacturing industry to be fully unleashed, but we believe the discussions we hosted in Edinburgh marked a meaningful milestone along the way.

You can read all the articles in the Newsweek series about Launchpad Build AI’s Summit here:

https://www.newsweek.com/world-of-tomorrow-ai-factory-floor-12106904

https://www.newsweek.com/world-of-tomorrow-scotland-ai-robotics-12116700

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-race-models-manufacturing-world-of-tomorrow-12122020

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-industrial-power-struggles-world-of-tomorrow-12146543

In June, Launchpad Build AI hosted an exclusive summit in Edinburgh, Scotland, to discuss the future of AI and robotics.  We were privileged to have the event covered in a series of articles by leading publication, Newsweek.  In this post, the second of four, we look back at the event and showcase some of the insights it revealed.

Launchpad Build AI’s World of Tomorrow Summit began the way few tech gatherings do: atop an extinct volcano, inside one of Europe’s oldest fortifications. Guests were piped in from Crown Square for dinner in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle, and as Newsweek’s Megan Carnegie observed in the second of her four articles, “instead of kings, clans and statecraft, the discussion centered on AI, robotics and advanced manufacturing.”

The evening was built to make a point. Newsweek described it as “a reminder that Scotland wants to shape the next industrial era, not watch it unfold.” The country’s pitch rests on more than just scenery: it offers “a smaller, well-coordinated ecosystem where AI and robotics companies can work closely with government, universities, investors and industry.”

Dinner, however, was a chance to lean fully into Scotland’s impressive heritage. Newsweek reported a feast “prepared by acclaimed Scottish chef and restaurateur Tom Kitchin, a haggis ceremony (complete with a reading of Robbie Burns’ Address to a Haggis,) and a harp performance.” This was Scottish tradition front and center for an audience focusing on the technology of the future.

As the Tartan Army was charming World Cup audiences around the world, the message inside the castle was clear: Scotland wants the same kind of global attention for its role in the next wave of industrial technology.

Guests included figures such as Mike Splinter of TSMC’s board, Alistair McFarland of Leonardo, Chorus.ai founder Roy Raanani and Scottish Enterprise chief executive Adrian Gillespie.

For Launchpad Build AI, hosting the dinner in Edinburgh was a natural choice. Our CEO Jon Quick told Newsweek it’s a lot to do with the similarity between North American and Scottish cultures: “I’ve found the Scots to be such earnest, high-quality people. They’re the kind of people you want to do business with, and we’ve got big plans for the relationship here.”

The evening also carried real substance behind the ceremony. Scotland’s innovation minister, Ben Macpherson, pointed to the country’s research pedigree, noting that Europe’s first AI research group was set up at the University of Edinburgh in 1963. 

As he told the assembled guests, “That makes Edinburgh the second university in the world after Stanford to offer AI as a research subject, and we’re looking to build on that history.”

It’s also a history we at Launchpad Build AI are proud to be building on, one castle dinner and one summit at a time.

You can read all the articles in the Newsweek series about Launchpad Build AI’s Summit here:

https://www.newsweek.com/world-of-tomorrow-ai-factory-floor-12106904

https://www.newsweek.com/world-of-tomorrow-scotland-ai-robotics-12116700

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-race-models-manufacturing-world-of-tomorrow-12122020

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-industrial-power-struggles-world-of-tomorrow-12146543

Last month, Launchpad Build AI hosted an exclusive summit in Edinburgh, Scotland, to discuss the future of AI and robotics.  We were privileged to have the event covered in a series of articles by leading publication, Newsweek.  In this post, the first of four, we look back at the event and showcase some of the insights it revealed.

AI has spent the last few years proving what it can do with words, images and code. The next test is harder: can it hold up on a factory floor, where mistakes aren’t just embarrassing – they’re expensive, physical and sometimes dangerous?

That question sat at the heart of World of Tomorrow, the gathering Launchpad Build AI hosted in Edinburgh last month. As Newsweek’s Megan Carnegie put it in the first of her articles about the event, “the bigger story is where AI is heading next: into robotics, advanced manufacturing and the physical systems that make, move, and assemble things in the real world.”

Newsweek framed the stakes plainly: “A chatbot can make things up; a robot arm cannot.”

That distinction – between software failure and physical failure – is exactly why we felt this conversation needed a room of its own, and why we chose to hold it away from the usual tech-conference circuit.

The guest list reflected the scope of the challenge. The roughly 50-person gathering brought together chip, compute and simulation companies including Nvidia, TSMC and Nebius; industrial, defense and technology leaders from organizations like Lockheed Martin UK, BAE Systems Air, Leonardo, Ericsson Ventures and Booz Allen Hamilton; investors and advisers from J.P. Morgan, Lavrock Ventures, Squadra Ventures, Bain and Orrick; and figures from the Scottish government and its economic-development bodies.

The pressure behind the moment is real. Newsweek noted that, in the US, “the workforce still has 1.7 million fewer people than it did in February 2020…even as manufacturers continue to report hiring strain.”  And in the UK, “British firms are expected to invest roughly $650 billion in [reindustrialization] by 2028, while supply chains remain fragile and vulnerable to shocks.”

Our own CEO, Jon Quick, summed up the disconnect this creates: “We all want reindustrialization, But the crossover in conversation around AI and manufacturing is hard to decipher—there’s no pragmatic middle ground of where to go and what to do.”

That’s the gap World of Tomorrow was built to close: not another showcase of what models can say, but a working session on what it will take to get AI safely and usefully onto the factory floor.

Over the following days, leaders from industry, government, defense and investment sat down in Edinburgh to find a way to do just that.

You can read all the articles in the Newsweek series about Launchpad Build AI’s Summit here:

https://www.newsweek.com/world-of-tomorrow-ai-factory-floor-12106904

https://www.newsweek.com/world-of-tomorrow-scotland-ai-robotics-12116700

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-race-models-manufacturing-world-of-tomorrow-12122020

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-industrial-power-struggles-world-of-tomorrow-12146543

This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday in the U.S., and it got me thinking about the parallels between football and startup life.

In both, quarterbacks and founders get most of the credit. And in both, that misses the point. Without the full team, there is zero chance of success. In football, you need linemen to have time to throw, receivers to get open and catch the ball, and a defense that keeps the other team off the board. You can even win when everyone else does all the work (see: Manning, Eli).

Startups work the same way. Engineering, R&D, sales, finance — if there’s a gap in any one of them, the whole thing breaks down.

The attitude matters too. Tom Brady has talked about treating every practice like it was the Super Bowl, so when game day came, it felt like just another day. Startup life is similar. When you start, you aren’t at flashy stadiums. We are talking coffee shops and office/warehouses whose best attribute is the price. Travel is discount flights at weird hours instead of business class or PJs. While we aren’t Apple or Google… yet… we need to act like we are. We need to behave like we are going to walk in and present to Tim Cook, or that any customer we are going to call is going to pick up the phone. The early days are like spring practices… quiet… alone.

John Wooden said, “How you practice is how you play.” I’ve always liked that quote, but what resonates more over time is the idea behind it: character is built when nobody is watching. The real measure of a team — or a person — isn’t what happens under the lights. It’s the quiet work. The repetition. Try something… fail… try again… fail… try again… it’s good not great… keep going… millions more reps to go. The days that feel small and invisible but add up to something real.

That’s very much where we are at Launchpad Build AI. We’re in the grind. Late nights. Trying things, many of which don’t work the first time. Learning as we go. There’s nothing glamorous about that phase, but it’s the phase where identity gets built. Every setback forces you to get a little sharper. Every small win builds trust. We’re building the character we’ll need later, even if most of that work is happening far away from any spotlight.

And while football sparked the thought, it’s a big sports weekend all around. Six Nations rugby kicks off — go Scotland — and the Olympics are starting (O Canada!). Whatever you’re going to watch, remember that behind every second you see is what it took to get there.

PXN Ventures forms part of PXN Group, which has £700m AUM across over 120 portfolio companies after launching in November 2025 following the merger of Par Equity and Praetura Ventures. The VC champions high growth businesses based in the North of the UK that are actively transforming their sectors. 

Launchpad Build AI’s investment syndicate includes a mix of specialist VC funds like Lavrock Ventures and Squadra Ventures as well as strategic investors such as Ericsson Ventures, CX2 and Lockheed Martin Ventures.  The company also has financial backing and ongoing support from major Scottish organizations: the Scottish National Investment Bank and Scottish Enterprise.

Automation is mission-critical for manufacturers that wish to be globally competitive. It is also a prerequisite to reindustrialize and reshore.  Current geopolitical uncertainties are increasing supply chain risk, adding extra imperative to increase domestic production.  Launchpad Build AI’s technology tackles these issues head on, pushing the boundaries of autonomous manufacturing systems to make factories faster, safer and more flexible than ever.

Claire Cramm, Investment Manager at PXN Ventures, said: “We’ve admired the Launchpad Build AI team and their work ever since they set up in Edinburgh in 2024.  The company’s vision of how AI will reimagine the manufacturing industry is compelling, and we’re excited to be a part of the story.”

Jon Quick, CEO of Launchpad Build AI, said, “PXN Ventures understands where industrial automation is actually heading: not just the technology, but the operational reality companies face on the factory floor. Their support strengthens our ability to help customers deploy robotics in a way that works for people, scales economically, and delivers real outcomes. We’re excited to welcome them to the Launchpad Build AI family and look forward to working closely together.”

About Launchpad Build AI

Launchpad Build AI, founded in 2020, was created to reimagine manufacturing and revitalize local economies.  The company addresses labour shortages and improves competitiveness by combining proprietary AI-first technology with advanced robotics to help firms manage the optimal integration of humans and robots.  It estimates its systems halve the time and cost of delivering automation solutions.  With offices in Los Angeles, CA, and Edinburgh, UK, Launchpad Build AI’s technology is already deployed in factories across the US and Europe.

About PXN Ventures

PXN Ventures is the venture capital arm of PXN Group, formed as a result of two of the North’s best fund managers (Praetura Ventures and Par Equity) coming together to create an investor that the region deserves. With offices in Manchester, Edinburgh, Leeds and London, it delivers world-class investment programmes at scale to help build the Northern economy, supporting founders across a diverse range of sectors, including deep tech, life sciences and software. PXN Ventures is committed to backing early-stage founders across the North of the UK, with a long and growing list of northern success stories in our portfolio that have received early backing from PXN, including Modern Milkman, Phlo, AccessPay, Street Group and Advanced Electric Machines. As well as its EIS, VCT and institutional funds, including the GMC Life Sciences Fund By PXN Ventures, PXN is also the North West of England fund manager for the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, which is managed on behalf of the British Business Bank.

For more information, please contact:
Dan Bradley, Communications Director, Launchpad Build AI
dbradley@launchpad.build +44 (0)7816 829166

Dearest Reader,

The new season of Bridgerton came out today, and in its honor, please allow me to share a brief tale from the modern industrial age.

Every startup talks about culture. Most of the time, that conversation centers on excellence or hard work. Far fewer talk openly about failure.

Ironically, among elite athletes, there’s a saying: failure doesn’t break culture – it reveals it.

Tying this back to Bridgerton, I think the same is true in relationships. It’s easy to be happy and romantic at luxurious balls or while sauntering down the promenade. Let’s see how it holds up eight years and three kids later – at 2am – when one of them is projectile vomiting. (I love you, Jenn.)

This week, I sent feedback on some website copy asking for carriage returns.

For those Gen Z or younger, a quick explainer: before keyboards and screens, we used typewriters. Pressing “enter” physically returned the carriage – the metal assembly holding the letters – to the start of the page and advanced the paper to the next line.

Our VP of Marketing immediately sprang into action: questioning my sanity and attempting to organize horse and buggies for 50 people moving between two event sites.

And no, she is not Gen Z or a Millennial. She is my age…which is to say, outside both cutoffs.

Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, we laughed.

She laughed hardest.

And honestly? I loved the response.

Not the misunderstanding – but the instinct behind it. Immediate action. No defensiveness. No hesitation. And the confidence to own it, fix it, and move on. That combination says more about culture and character than any values slide ever could.

The instinct to act first, take responsibility, and keep going is hard to teach – and incredibly valuable.

The reality is this: great companies aren’t perfect. They’re not defined by getting it right on the first pass. They’re defined by how fast they recover.

Coca-Cola is a world-class company. Coke II was a world-class disaster.

Meta built one of the most consequential platforms in history. Its first major VR push burned billions before the strategy was reset.

Success isn’t about avoiding mistakes. It’s about recognizing them quickly, adapting fast, and making sure you don’t repeat them.

Startups are a grind. The days are long, the stakes are real, and sometimes the only sane response to the chaos is to laugh – briefly – then get back to work.

Mistakes happen.

Own them.

Fix them.

Learn.

Move on.

Forward motion beats perfection. Every time.

I remain, as ever,

Your most humble servant,

— Jon

I’m going to start with a joke.

A retired engineer gets a call from his old manager: “That machine you always looked after has broken down. Can you come back and fix it?”

The engineer says, “Sure – but it’ll cost you $6,000.”

The manager agrees. The engineer goes down to the factory, looks at the machine, picks up a hammer, and gives one nut a light tap. The machine starts working immediately. He asks for his $6,000.

The manager isn’t thrilled. “That took 15 seconds. I want an itemized bill.”

So the engineer writes:

• 15 seconds of labor: $20.
• Knowing exactly where and how to hit the machine: $5,980.

This joke comes to mind when I think about the wave of AI projects launched over the past year and the way the industry is shaping up heading into 2026.

It’s been a breakout period for AI, not just in the number of companies being formed, but in how seriously the industry is now being taken.

We’ve seen new ventures launched by some of the most established names in technology (Bezos), sustained investment from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds (treating AI as long-term infrastructure rather than a speculative bet), and major venture firms like A16Z raising large, dedicated funds ($7B+) to back the next generation of AI-driven companies.

A lot of this AI energy is focused on innovation in the manufacturing industry. I’ve spoken publicly about the need for the U.S. and other Western economies to reindustrialize, so I’m pleased to see broader agreement on the what. Where I start to get concerned is the how.

Too many companies talk about “innovation” as though they can walk straight into a factory and do things better. It’s like thinking you can walk off the street for the Super Bowl and say, “Don’t worry Drake Maye, I’ve got it from here.”

They can’t — because manufacturing is hard.

This industry is about making complicated, physical objects at scale. The people who do this work are exceptionally skilled. You don’t wake up one day and decide you’re going to manufacture things well. And if you don’t respect the people who already know how to do it, you’re going to fail.

That’s the serious point behind the joke at the beginning. Manufacturing has human judgment at its core: knowledge built through experience, iteration, and failure over time.

In many ways, manufacturing looks less like pure science and more like an art form. It’s a lot like cooking.

Anyone can follow a recipe: “Crack two eggs. Add milk.” But then the recipe says, “Beat until silky.” What does silky actually mean? You don’t learn that from instructions, you learn it from doing.

Manufacturing works the same way. It’s not just about building systems; it’s about building the ability to observe, respond, and adjust: knowing when to intervene, and when not to.

Some of that is done through robots and software, and some of it is done by humans. The next phase of automation isn’t about stronger or faster machines, it’s about embedding judgment into the software that guides them.

Think of a musician warming up. You almost never see it live, and if you told someone to show up and watch a band do that, they’d think you were crazy.

Now think of Freddie Mercury warming up in front of 70,000 people at Wembley during Live Aid. That moment was legendary, not because it was rehearsed, but because it was responsive, instinctive, and completely in sync with the crowd.

That’s the difference between repetition and intelligence.

I believe a better way to approach innovation starts with two simple questions:

• What are you actually trying to do?
• And do you really need to do it?

That brings me to feedback loops.

Put a tray of muffins in the oven and they won’t all bake the same way. It depends on the shelf, the heat distribution, how full each cup is, and a dozen other variables.

Experienced cooks know their ovens, just like our engineer knew his machine.

Manufacturing works the same way. It’s not just about building systems. It’s about building the ability to observe, respond, and adjust: knowing when to intervene, and when not to.

The future of manufacturing isn’t fully automated factories run end-to-end by software. It’s a combination of baseline activities that can, and should, be automated, and a critical human layer that ties everything together.

Getting that balance right – between robots and people, automation and experience – is the real recipe for success.

Always fun when you can start writing by trying to decide between quoting George RR Martin or Sun Tzu’s version of the sentiment that change creates opportunity. This week, the UK’s new Employment Rights Bill cleared its final parliamentary hurdle and will soon be signed into law. As with all legislation there will be benefits both intended and unintended, and consequences both intended and unintended. From a manufacturing perspective it will undoubtedly force a major reset in the relationship between employer and employee. The A players in the industry will treat this as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Regardless of which side you are on as to the merits or drawbacks of the legislation, everyone seems to agree on one thing: manufacturing is hard.  It involves complex processes, dangerous machinery and punishing environments. Everyone agrees that there need to be protections for workers, the differences occur when you get to the specifics as to what and how. When a government like the UK takes a stand on how they see things, it isn’t done in a vacuum. Manufacturing occurs as part of a global economy and differences in regulatory environments create an uneven playing field in comparison to the US…China…etc.

Those concerned about the UK’s new legislation will go down the path of too much red tape and bureaucracy stifling innovation, dampening investment and harming the industry it is trying to help. Math is math. Increased labor costs have to be borne by someone. It either gets passed on to customers, absorbed by companies, or avoided by moving manufacturing to a lower cost jurisdiction or outsourcing. Before you assume this is a multinational issue you should note that 99% of the manufacturers in the UK are SMEs. This will have a material impact on their ability to compete, to grow/scale and even survive.

Life has been tough for the manufacturing industry. COVID hit harder on industries that can’t work remotely. They had shipping lane shutdowns, tariffs and trade wars, and now a major reset in their regulations regarding labour.

In the UK specifically, manufacturing has fallen out of the Top 10 globally, and the problem goes beyond volume as productivity is lagging. The IMF has highlighted that there is an increasing gap vs the US that has been widening since the financial crisis.

Commentators are increasingly seeing boosting productivity as key to kickstarting Britain’s economy (with similar sentiments being expressed in the US, Canada, etc).  A recent Reuters analysis called for a “supply side revolution” to reverse the decline in productivity growth.  I’ve advocated for, and have found a number of like-minded people that believe that, reindustrialization is the critical path towards rebuilding western economies.  This sits within the broader context of China’s plans to turbo-charge its investment in robotics, and our need to raise our game to remain competitive.

Business groups are looking to massage the final legislation/implementation, as they should. At its best that is a situation of making a bad situation, less bad. Visionaries need to embrace their inner Winston Churchill and “never let a good crisis go to waste.” Automation is an inevitability. Its current penetration is <3% because as an industry it has failed its customers. Large upfront costs, customers bearing all of the business risk, automating everything including things that shouldn’t be automated – is insanity. Thankfully we live in a world where startups, such as Launchpad Build AI, are changing the game. Use robots for what robots are good at. Leave humans to do what humans are good at.

This new UK bill is changing the equation when it comes to labour. The UK government’s impact assessment forecast was £4.5-5 billion per year in extra wages and compliance costs, as well as unmeasurable additional legal exposure and liability. This will disproportionately impact small businesses that don’t have, or have small, HR/legal departments. Plus manufacturing is a lower margin industry. With the new math, the UK’s manufacturing companies (mostly SMEs, as noted above) need to take a fresh look at automation…(hint: it will now pencil!)

This year, industry body MakeUK calculated that there are 55,000 long-term unfilled manufacturing vacancies in the UK, costing the country £6 billion per year. The same is true in the US where there are >600k open jobs, a figure that’s expected to increase to >2M by 2030.

The UK already couldn’t find labour to fill the positions it has, and now it has less money to do so. How much more a burning platform needs to exists before fully embracing robots to supplement human labour in the UK?

Everyone seems to have the same goal. Quality, safe manufacturing jobs. Bring in robots to do the high-risk, monotonous manufacturing jobs. Have humans do the higher-value jobs. The combined cost structure enables the UK to be globally competitive protecting existing industries/jobs and leading to a future with increasing investment and additional jobs.

Far from a challenge, the Employment Rights Bill should be a call to arms to UK manufacturers. It’s time to embrace robotics and automation, and step into the future. If you aren’t sure how to do it… just give me a call.

Today, the global manufacturing landscape is highly uneven. Different countries specialize in different components, and a significant share of critical manufacturing capacity has shifted to China, a country that is not a US ally but that nevertheless sits at the center of many essential supply chains.

Concern about this situation is growing in line with the realization that we need to strengthen and protect the US industrial base. In the near term, that means working more closely with allies and nearshoring key production. In the long term, it means strategically reshoring manufacturing capacity that is critical for national security and economic stability.

Over the last several decades, manufacturing in the US has gradually dispersed due to offshoring, trade liberalization and cost-driven decisions made over many years.  And as we discussed in a previous post, this erosion is also affecting domain knowledge.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US had 410,000 open manufacturing jobs as of October this year. Deloitte projects that the US will face around 1.9 million open manufacturing roles by 2033. This shortage will significantly constrain efforts to reshore and rebuild domestic production capacity.

At the same time, automation adoption is not keeping pace with demand. The International Federation of Robotics reported a 9 percent drop in US robot installations in 2024. This highlights a troubling mismatch. Manufacturers urgently need automation to address their labor shortages, but current solutions remain too slow, too costly or too rigid for widespread adoption.

Reversing this trend has become an imperative, and it requires smarter automation. This does not mean robots replacing humans. It means robots working with humans, taking on repetitive or precision-critical tasks so people can focus on oversight, troubleshooting and system optimization. In practice, automation enables skilled workers to build more, faster and with consistent quality.

All this matters because speed and flexibility have become strategic requirements. Whether it is consumer goods or national security systems, the United States cannot afford supply chains that are fragile or dependent on geopolitical rivals. Understanding the scale of this vulnerability is essential. Supply chain resiliency is no longer just an economic issue. It’s a national security imperative.