What happens when you give the next generation of engineers and business leaders the tools to use AI, then ask them to solve real business problems?
Recently, 29 graduates from across IMI came together in Southern California for our Accelerating Growth with AI Conference. The aim was simple: to move beyond talking about the potential of AI and start putting it to work.
Over the course of the week, graduates explored how AI is changing the way businesses operate, heard from experts and IMI leaders, built their own AI agents and began developing ideas focused on real opportunities across our business.
It was learning with a clear purpose: giving our early careers talent the skills, confidence and opportunity to help shape what comes next.
Understanding the opportunity
The conference opened with Professor Ram Bala, Associate Professor of AI & Analytics, exploring the opportunities AI is creating for businesses and challenging graduates to think critically about where it could make a difference at IMI.
That conversation continued with a panel of experts and IMI leaders exploring the opportunities and challenges of applying AI in a global engineering business. The discussion brought the possibilities of AI into a real IMI context, from solving customer problems to improving how we work.
For the graduates, the challenge quickly moved from theory to action. Working in teams, they began developing practical AI-driven ideas focused on real opportunities across IMI.
The work continues beyond the conference, with teams developing their ideas further and exploring how AI could be applied to create real value across the business.
Building skills by using them
One of the standout sessions of the week saw graduates work with QA, a training provider, to build their own AI agents using Microsoft Copilot. The hands-on session gave the group the opportunity to take what they had learned and immediately put it into practice.
Edmund Cai described it as “a good lesson” with clear relevance to everyday work, while Madeline Bennett left the session “excited to build more agents” and apply them in practice.
That practical approach matters. Across IMI, our focus is on using AI where it can solve real problems, improve how we work and help our people spend more time on the work that creates the greatest value.
For our graduates, the opportunity is to start building those habits early: being curious about what is possible, experimenting with new approaches and focusing on where technology can create genuine impact.
Building a global network
The week was also an opportunity to build connections across IMI. A visit to our new Southern California facility gave graduates the chance to see another part of our global business in action.
Simona Ritomská valued the opportunity to experience “a different work environment” and see the projects fellow graduates are working on.
The group also took part in a scavenger hunt at Laguna Beach. Tyler Furukawa said the experience gave the cohort the chance to “have fun with people that we may not have been able to interact with before”.
Those connections are an important part of the Early Careers Programme. Working across different countries, sectors and disciplines gives graduates a broader view of IMI and helps build the networks they can draw on throughout their careers.
The feedback from the week showed the wider impact of the experience. Every graduate who responded said the conference had increased their understanding of how AI is shaping IMI’s future, helped them reflect on the leadership behaviours needed as technology continues to influence outcomes, and strengthened connections across the graduate cohort. A further 97% said the experience had helped them build confidence in navigating complexity.
For a generation of talent entering the workplace at a time of rapid change, those skills matter. The ability to understand new technology, navigate uncertainty, build strong networks and turn ideas into action will be critical to helping IMI accelerate growth and continue delivering Breakthrough Engineering for a Better World.
Ready to create impact
By the end of the conference, the focus had shifted firmly from learning about AI to deciding what to do with it.
Graduates left with new technical skills and practical ideas they can take back into their roles, from building AI agents and improving processes to identifying new ways to solve customer and business problems.
As Covadonga Aragon put it, the experience brought “inspiration, knowledge and more energy to keep bringing value to the business”.
That is exactly the ambition of our Early Careers Programme. We want talented people to join IMI, build experience across a global engineering business and have the opportunity to make a difference from the start.
Could you see yourself doing the same? Register your interest for IMI’s next Early Careers Programme and be among the first to hear when applications open.
