AI Activator
Measures can include
- confidence
- AI capability
- career perspective
- public speaking
- critical thinking
- participant satisfaction
Impact
Making things isn’t enough.
A website going live isn’t impact.
Neither is an event happening, a programme being delivered or a strategy being written.
Those are outputs.
Impact is what changes because of them.
Impact is what changed.
- Our definition
- Impact is the meaningful difference created because something happened.
For GoodShip*, impact can mean:
- someone gained confidence
- someone found an opportunity
- a business made a better decision
- a new product became possible
- people learned something useful
- a community became more connected
- an organisation changed direction
- something became easier to access
Not every project creates the same kind of impact.
That’s why we start by asking what should be different afterwards.
Current evidence
Some of what has happened so far.
Every number keeps its source, cohort and method attached. Percentages relate to AI Activator participants rather than all GoodShip* work, and where we contributed to an outcome rather than creating it alone, we say so.
1,000s
people brought together
Through events, communities, programmes and knowledge sharing.
Source: GoodShip* event records. Cohort: all community events to date.
45
student internship opportunities
Helped create through GoodShip* projects and partnerships.
Source: GoodShip* partnership records with university partners.
87%
reported increased confidence
Reported through AI Activator activity.
Source: AI Activator participant survey. Cohort: original pilot cohort. Self-reported, post-programme.
80%
changed career perspective
Reported by AI Activator participants.
Source: AI Activator participant survey. Cohort: original pilot cohort. Self-reported, post-programme.
73%
improved public speaking
Self-reported in AI Activator programme evaluation.
Source: AI Activator programme evaluation. Self-reported by participants.
67%
increased critical thinking
Self-reported in AI Activator programme evaluation.
Source: AI Activator programme evaluation. Self-reported by participants.
£260k
seed investment raised
EdenFiftyOne went on to raise £260,000 in seed investment while GoodShip* supported its commercialisation journey.
Source: client-reported investment round. GoodShip* role: strategy, technology and commercial support, a contribution rather than sole cause.
30+ years
of experience behind the experiment
Two years of GoodShip* projects, programmes and partnerships so far.
Source: GoodShip* founding team background and company records.
Evidence should survive somebody asking: how do you know?
Impact looks different depending on who you’re looking at.
People
- skills
- confidence
- experience
- opportunity
- connection
Organisations
- clarity
- capability
- better decisions
- new products
- progress
Communities
- participation
- knowledge sharing
- relationships
- opportunity
Ideas
- from possibility to something tangible
Technology
- useful tools built around human needs
Ecosystems
- better connections between people, support and opportunity
People
Sometimes the biggest change is confidence.
GoodShip* creates opportunities for people to participate, experiment, contribute and make something real.
Through programmes such as AI Activator, participants have worked with real organisations, used emerging technology and developed practical skills alongside human capabilities.
87%
increased confidence
Reported by AI Activator participants.
80%
changed career perspective
Reported by AI Activator participants.
73%
improved public speaking
Reported by AI Activator participants.
67%
increased critical thinking
Reported by AI Activator participants.
Skills matter. Believing you can use them matters too.
Participation should lead somewhere.
GoodShip* has helped create routes between:
- education
- experience
- employers
- projects
- internships
- jobs
- networks
Where the work supports it, people have moved from:
- participant to internship
- internship to employment
- learning to live project
- introduction to opportunity
Other partners contributed to those routes too, so we describe our part as helping create, connecting and contributing.
45 student internship opportunities helped create through GoodShip* activity and partnerships.
Good things happen when the right people meet.
Through KinShip, AI & Tech for Good, Navigate and wider GoodShip* events and partnerships, thousands of people have come together to:
1,000s of people brought together.
Sometimes the value is simply creating the conditions for something useful to happen.
- share knowledge
- meet someone new
- discover opportunities
- ask questions
- start conversations
- build relationships
Not every connection becomes a project. It doesn’t need to.
Sometimes impact starts with a better decision.
GoodShip* works with organisations at different stages:
- starting
- growing
- changing
- experimenting
- launching
- stuck
The outcome might be:
- a clearer strategy
- a new proposition
- a working prototype
- a stronger brand
- a new digital product
- better use of AI
- a new partnership
- investment readiness
- a programme brought to life
- a project getting unstuck
The deliverable matters. What the organisation can do afterwards matters more.
Case studies
The numbers only tell part of the story.
Each story sets out what the situation was, what we did and what changed afterwards. EdenFiftyOne, for example, went on to raise £260k in seed investment while GoodShip* supported its strategy, product, brand and technology thinking.
GoodShip*
AI Activator
A challenge-led GoodShip* programme where people build real AI confidence by solving live organisational problems, supported by a brand, a website and the AI Activator Student Hub.
Read the case study
EdenFiftyOne
EdenFiftyOne : Strategic Support
Strategic, product, technology, creative and investment support helping EdenFiftyOne move from a strong education idea towards a scalable technology business.
Sovereign AI · EdTech · Impact Investment · International Growth
Read the case study
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce
An embedded ecosystem and community partnership helping Liverpool Chamber connect the established business community with the creative, technology, start-up and innovation communities shaping what comes next.
Read the case study
Navigate (Liverpool Chamber × GoodShip*)
Navigate
A coordinating and connecting layer for Liverpool City Region's growth ecosystem, co-developed with Liverpool Chamber.
Read the case study
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University : AI Activator
A bold reimagining of student internships. In partnership with LJMU Student Futures, we designed and delivered a hands-on AI programme that gave students real tools, real briefs, and real confidence — blending tech-for-good thinking with storytelling, wellbeing, and purpose-led innovation.
Read the case study
Ark Immersive
Ark Immersive
A fractional strategic relationship helping Ark Immersive translate technical capability into clear propositions, stronger storytelling and new market opportunities.
Read the case studyActivations
Sometimes we’re commissioned to create impact. Sometimes we start the experiment ourselves.
GoodShip* impact comes through client work, helping organisations solve problems, create things and make progress, and through GoodShip* Activations: our own programmes, platforms and communities.
Different starting points. Same question. What changed?
KinShip
Measures can include
- participation
- repeat attendance
- knowledge contributors
- introductions
- connections
- partnerships
Navigate
Measures can include
- businesses engaged
- support discovered
- referrals
- knowledge shared
- useful introductions
Navigate impact is created collaboratively with Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.
OneDock
Measures can include
- useful discoveries
- listings
- access to events
- support
- opportunities
- community information
Fableit
Measures can include
- participant contributions
- participation rate
- qualitative insight
- richer impact evidence
AI & Tech for Good
Measures can include
- cross-sector conversations
- practical demonstrations
- knowledge sharing
- new connections
- difficult questions explored
- emerging technology understanding
AI & Tech for Good is co-created with Generative Minds UK.
Impact is rarely created alone.
Most meaningful work involves other people.
- clients
- universities
- delivery partners
- funders
- communities
- participants
- specialists
GoodShip* doesn’t need to own all the credit. We’d rather help create the conditions for useful things to happen.
Recognition
Apparently other people noticed too.
Awards aren’t the impact.
But it’s nice when the work gets noticed.
- Creative Innovation · Liverpool City Region Culture & Creativity AwardsWinner · 2026
- Digital & Technology Business of the Year · Merseyside Independent Business AwardsFinalist · 2026
- Best Start-Up · Merseyside Independent Business AwardsFinalist · 2026
- Innovation Community Impact · Liverpool Community Impact AwardsWinner · 2025
Methodology
Count what matters.
Not everything meaningful fits neatly into a dashboard.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t measure. Depending on the work, we look at:
- participation
- confidence
- skills
- behaviour
- progression
- engagement
- opportunity
- adoption
- business outcomes
- qualitative feedback
What happened that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?
- 01
Define
What are we actually trying to change?
- 02
Baseline
What is true before the intervention?
- 03
Activity
What happened? Who participated? What was delivered?
- 04
Outcome
What changed afterwards?
- 05
Evidence
How do we know?
- 06
Reflect
What worked? What didn't? What should change next time?
- 07
Follow up
Where useful and practical: what happened later?
Numbers give us evidence. Stories give us context. We need both.
Partner voices
Behind every percentage is a person.
The most useful feedback describes what changed, not simply that we were nice to work with.
Partner
“The students left with a genuinely different sense of what they were capable of — and the confidence to say it out loud.”Client
“GoodShip* helped us make a clearer decision about the product before we spent money proving it the expensive way.”Partner
“The value wasn't the event itself. It was the introductions that came out of it and what businesses did next.”Participant
“I came in assuming AI wasn't for people like me. I left with something I'd actually built.”Want the detail?
The evidence behind these outcomes sits with the work itself: the case studies, the programmes and the stories from the people who took part.
Impact questions.
Where impact comes from
Why GoodShip*
The philosophy behind a Purpose & Impact Agency*.
What we do
Consultancy, creative, digital, community, empowerment, rescue and sprints.
Activations
The programmes, communities and products we build and measure ourselves.
What would meaningful impact look like for you?
More confidence? More opportunity? Better decisions?
A stronger business? A useful product? A connected community?
Start there. Then build what the outcome actually needs.