A research companion you can play – The Slingshot: An AI Start-up Simulation

The following blog post has been written by IRC Council of Expert, Prof Ammon Salter. The blog discusses a new simulation that Ammon has developed on tech-based venturing, called The Slingshot, which was built on from his IRC and ESRC research project. 

The Slingshot is an attempt to do research engagement differently—through play. Rather than replacing papers, reports, and briefings, it is designed to complement them with an interactive experience that helps people explore the realities of building an AI venture in the UK.

In The Slingshot, players act as a founder of new AI start-up. Over 16 quarters, they build a venture in one of eight sectors, making decisions about whether to bootstrap or raise venture capital, where to focus effort across research, product development, and sales and marketing, whether to apply for R&D grants, and when to pivot. The simulation includes 550+ unique events drawn from actual AI start-up experiences and from the literature on technology venturing, creating a learning environment where every decision matters. The game is set in the UK’s rich and dynamic AI ecosystem, reflecting the institutions and characteristics of the wider innovation and research system.

The simulation is grounded in research and directly connects to IRC projects. It was developed as part of the ESRC-funded project “Profiting from Science: the development and valuation of Artificial Intelligence new ventures and engagement with the science base” (ES/X003949/1). It also directly builds on an IRC-funded project on “Examining innovation funding lifecycle: assessing the impact of Innovate UK funding on AI new ventures,” conducted in collaboration with Innovate UK. A core aim of this research is to understand how UK-based AI start-ups create value through relationships with the science base, and how they draw upon R&D grants (or not)—and what impact those grants have on their development over time. The game closely mirrors the key features of Innovate UK’s funding and assessment system, as well as other sources of public funding for innovation.

The Slingshot is also an experiment in who can build engagement tools. It was developed by researchers with no formal software development background, acting as “lead users,” using new AI coding tools demonstrating how a full educational simulation that might once have required a dedicated software team for years can now be created and iterated by researchers in months.

The project is intentionally community oriented. The Slingshot is open source and free to use under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, meaning educators are welcome to use, copy, modify, and adapt the game for non-commercial teaching, outreach, and research engagement, with attribution and share-alike. Since launching on 14 January, it has reached 660 unique users from 44 countries, and it has already been used for teaching in four universities.

Learn about The Slingshot and the underpinning research and play with it here.