Independent · Non-profit · Community Interest Company

CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN AI ASPIRATION AND AI REALITY

Every organisation has an AI strategy. Almost none have the institutional capacity to deliver it. Unities provides independent, evidence-based tools, research, and guidance to help leaders close that gap. Partnered with Digital Leaders (65,000+ UK leaders). No vendors. No hype.

Evidence-based Open access CC-BY-NC-SA
9%

THE NUMBERS TELL THE STORY

The gap between AI ambition and AI delivery is not closing — it's widening. Pilots stall. Governance lags behind adoption. Security risks go unmanaged. And the institutional machinery supposed to deliver AI transformation has a 9% success rate. These aren't technology failures. They're leadership and governance failures. Unities exists to help you beat those odds.

9%
of UK gov major tech programmes rated on track for delivery
State of Digital Government Review, 2025
88%
of AI pilots never make it to production deployment
IDC, 2025
7%
of UK organisations have fully embedded AI governance
Trustmarque AI Governance Index, 2025
54%
of UK organisations have minimal or no AI governance at all
Trustmarque AI Governance Index, 2025
Community Partner
DIGITAL LEADERS
65,000+ UK digital leaders

Unities provides independent research, analysis, and tools. Digital Leaders provides the community platform, events, and network reach. Two organisations, one mission — no duplication.

What we do

WHAT YOU GET

Independent knowledge, practical tools, and a network of peers who understand your challenges. Everything designed for leaders making real decisions with real consequences.
01
Assess

Find out where you really stand

AI readiness tools that measure what actually matters — your organisation's capacity to absorb change, not just its technology stack.

02
Brief

Get the knowledge you need

Quarterly half-day briefings for senior leaders. Evidence-led, practically focused, 15–20 participants. You leave with something you can use on Monday morning.

03
Publish

Trust what you're reading

Independent research on AI governance, procurement, and skills. No vendor wrote it. No sponsor approved it. No commercial interest shaped it.

04
Connect

Learn from leaders like you

Through our community partner Digital Leaders — 65,000+ UK leaders navigating the same challenges. We provide the substance. They provide the scale.

THE TECHNOLOGY ISN'T THE HARD PART.
LEADING THE CHANGE IS.

Governance. Procurement. Skills. Culture. Accountability. These are the things that determine whether AI works in your organisation — and they're exactly the things that most AI guidance ignores. We don't.

MAKING AI WORK
Founding publication — April 2026

MAKING AI WORK FOR BRITAIN

Our founding publication — and the most honest book you'll read about why AI programmes keep failing in the UK and what you can actually do about it. Five concrete reforms. Twenty years of evidence. No punches pulled.

Free to download under Creative Commons. Because if you're a public sector leader on a tight budget, a £40 hardback shouldn't stand between you and the knowledge you need to lead well.

CC-BY-NC-SA · London Publishing Partnership · April 2026
01

AI Coordination Authority

Statutory. Independent. Modelled on the OBR. Not another advisory committee.

02

Outcome-based procurement

Using the 2023 Act. Mandatory exit provisions. End vendor lock-in.

03

Sovereign infrastructure

Data as strategic national asset. Exit-by-design. Not IT housekeeping.

04

Three-level skills pipeline

Awareness → capability → system leadership. Because AI basics alone change nothing.

05

Community impact assessments

For every high-stakes deployment. Systems without legitimacy get withdrawn.

Our promise

WHAT YOU CAN COUNT ON FROM US

Independence

Nobody pays us to say what they want to hear. No funder reviews our content. All funding is disclosed publicly. You can trust what we publish.

Evidence

We show our working. When the evidence supports a claim, we say so. When it doesn't, we say that too. You always know the difference between facts and recommendations.

Practicality

Everything we produce is designed for people who have to make real decisions with real consequences. If you can't use it on Monday morning, we haven't done our job.

Inclusion

Good AI guidance shouldn't be reserved for organisations that can afford Big Four consultants. We serve leaders at every scale — Whitehall to town halls, FTSE boards to community groups.

Who we are

PEOPLE WHO'VE BEEN THERE, DONE IT, AND HAVE THE SCARS

Unities is led by a small core team and supported by a growing network of expert associates — senior practitioners, researchers, and policy specialists who have spent decades at the sharp end of digital transformation. In government, in industry, in the NHS, in education.

We're not commentators watching from the sidelines. We've run the programmes, managed the failures, navigated the politics, and learned — the hard way — what it actually takes to make technology work in complex organisations. That experience is what we bring to you. And because we're a Community Interest Company, every penny of surplus goes back into the mission.

Every person in this consortium has real delivery experience — not just opinions about delivery

We're a CIC. Surplus is reinvested in the mission, not distributed as profit

We exist to improve the state of practice — not to build another consultancy

Core team
AB

Alan Brown

Founder & Director

Professor in Digital Economy, University of Exeter. Research Director, Digital Policy Alliance. AI Director, Digital Leaders Network. Former IBM Distinguished Engineer & European CTO. 30+ years in digital transformation. Author of Making AI Work for Britain.

ND

Nawtej Dosanjh

Director — Education & Impact

Strategist in academic impact and digital education. President & CEO, Vedere Institute. Built and led education programmes, business schools, and universities across the USA and Europe.

RM

Roger Maull

Director — Research

Professor of Management Systems, University of Exeter. Academic Director, INDEX. Over £21m in research funding. Expert in digital supply chains and outcome-based business models.

Expert associates
WE'RE BUILDING THE NETWORK

We're actively recruiting experienced practitioners from across government, financial services, health, education, and industry — people who know what AI implementation looks like at the coalface. People with scars, not just slides.

Think that's you? Get in touch →
Join us

WORK WITH US

ADVISORY COUNCIL

6–8 experts across government, finance, technology, inclusion, and international perspectives. We want people who'll challenge us, not just lend their names.

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS

Annual partnerships that fund our independence. You get access to research, briefings, and networks. We keep editorial control. Published policy guarantees it.

EXECUTIVE BRIEFINGS

Quarterly half-day sessions delivered with Digital Leaders. Evidence-led, limited numbers, genuinely useful. First sessions launching later in 2026.

RESEARCH COLLABORATION

Universities, think tanks, public bodies — if your research priorities align with ours, let's talk. We bridge academic rigour and practical application.

LEAD WITH CONFIDENCE.
START HERE.

Register for first access to our tools, briefings, research, and the book. One email when there's something worth your time. That's it.