Basingstoke Skills Summit 2026

Basingstoke has the talent, the employers and the ambition. What it needs next is more connections between them, and that was the thread running through this morning's Basingstoke Skills Summit.

The Summit was the flagship event of Basingstoke Business Week 2026, hosted by Luke Murphy MP and built around the theme of Skills for the Future. It brought together local SMEs, major employers, educators and the council into one room to discuss the town's most pressing skills challenges. ICS.AI is proud to call Basingstoke home, and one of our AI enablement consultant's Nick Horne joined AI adoption guide Kim Mason to co-host the breakout sessions on AI: where to start.

A town with a story to tell

Luke Murphy opened the day by reminding the room that Basingstoke is the fifth most productive place in the country, a story he feels doesn't get told enough. His call to action was simple: help tell it, so the town attracts the investment it deserves.

The Minister for Small Business and Enterprise, The Lord Leong CBE, reflected on four decades in business to make the case that a company depends on its people. He asked every employer in the room for one practical commitment: an apprenticeship, a placement, a site visit or some mentoring.

Opportunity, not just skills

The skills panel, chaired by Mark Jones, challenged the idea of a simple skills gap. Gary Livingstone (LG Motion), runs several local engineering businesses and started as an apprentice himself, put it bluntly: we can't keep demanding experienced people if we don't offer opportunities in the first place. He also argued that the biggest threat to local businesses is not adopting some form of automation, and that it should mean retraining people rather than replacing them.

Michelle Tejevo from Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) urged employers to work with their local college on the curriculum, and Amanda Fisackerly (M3 Job Club), who supports professionals returning to work, asked employers to be much clearer about what each role is really for.

Councillor Dr Paul Harvey, Leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, set out the vision for a North Hampshire economy and reminded us that alongside any skills gap there is an aspiration gap, and that we are all lifelong learners. Ross McNally of the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce asked whether we face a shortage of skills or a shortage of connections, and argued that Basingstoke's culture of collaboration is its real advantage.

AI: where to start

Kim and Nick billed their sessions as an "agony aunt and uncle" format, and both breakouts were packed with honest questions, healthy debate and plenty of practical advice.

Kim opened with four types of business she sees across Hampshire SMEs:

• The push-pull business, where the boss swings between enthusiasm and nerves, staff turn to unapproved "shadow AI" tools, and clients get mixed messages.

• The grassroots business, where a cautious leadership team is slowly won round by an enthusiast from within, often in marketing or comms.

• The steady Eddie, often in a data-sensitive sector, deliberately bringing the whole workforce along at a measured pace.

• The pocket rocket, a smaller, tech-led business that went all in early and is now using AI to reach new markets, with some bumps along the way.

Nick, who leads ICS.AI's AI Assessments with councils, universities and other public bodies, explained that large organisations usually contain all four types at once, department by department. His key messages:

• Start with the problem, not the tool. Find the bottlenecks first, then ask whether AI can help. Sometimes it can't, and that's fine.

• Choose the right model for the job. Everyday models are perfectly adequate for most work. Don't buy a Ferrari when a minibus will do, and avoid free tools for business data risks.

• Using AI well is a skill. AI can get you much of the way, but you still need the expertise to judge whether the answer is right.

• Prototype fast, then build properly. AI makes it possible to show customers a working prototype in days, before developers build the robust version.

On where a small business can get help, the advice was practical: free local events and round tables, the AI Growth Alliance for Hampshire and Solent, free introductory courses on LinkedIn Learning, your local college, and the friends and family who are already a step ahead. And if AI genuinely isn't right for your business, as one sceptic in the room argued, that's a valid choice too.

Better connected, together

Whether the subject was apprenticeships or AI, the message was the same: the talent and tools are already here, and what unlocks them is opportunity, curiosity and people working together.

Thank you to Luke Murphy and Destination Basingstoke for bringing the Summit together, to every speaker and panellist, and to Kim Mason for being such a brilliant co-host for Nick.

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