AI for the civil service. By people who ship it.
Moonlabs is the operator-led AI Academy in Derby. We run three live companies — Homemove, home.co.uk and homedata.co.uk — and we teach twelve students per cohort to ship a real AI product, sell it to a real customer, and raise on it. Three pillars: Coding, Commercials, Investment. Twelve weeks. £6,000.
Moonlabs is what we are. Two operators — James Freestone and Louis O’Connell-Bristow — who run Homemove, home.co.uk and homedata.co.uk. We sit on the regulated side of property data; we know what defensible AI deployment looks like under FOI, GDPR and JR-style scrutiny because we ship it ourselves.
The Academy is what we do. A twelve-week, in-person, twelve-student cohort in Derby. You build a real AI product. You sign a paid pilot on it. You write a deck and a financial model. You leave with a deployed system, a paying customer reference and a live investor pipeline — or, for civil-service applicants, the same artefacts pointed at a real departmental brief. Coding, Commercials, Investment — the three pillars taught in equal weight every week.
Why this page exists. The civil service has a serious AI problem. Every department is being asked to use AI; almost none has the in-house engineering depth to evaluate, deploy or procure honestly. Vendors are getting away with extraordinary claims because the people inside the buildings cannot tell a working production system from a polished demo. You leave the Academy as the official who can ship the AI, run procurement with operator-grade scepticism — or as the next govtech founder Whitehall actually wishes existed.
Coding · the public-sector AI stack, built defensibly
Policy retrieval, consultation analysis, casework triage, FOI response drafting, regulatory monitoring. Evals, audit trails and on-prem-capable deployment from week one because public-sector AI has to defend itself under FOI, Parliamentary scrutiny and judicial review. A deployed public-sector AI tool by week twelve — one you can defend in front of a Permanent Secretary.
Commercials · procurement-grade scepticism + the buy-side seat
After twelve weeks of building you read vendor demos with operator-grade scepticism, write honest specs, run real procurement. Several past civil-service students have moved into AI commissioning roles on the back of the cohort. A paid pilot or a redirected procurement by week six — the line between “sponsor an Academy seat” and “pay a vendor a million pounds for a worse system” is one trained official wide.
Investment · the govtech founder route
Faculty AI ($30m+, MoD work), Beam, Polymath, Multiverse (founded by Euan Blair, now a unicorn), Tessian, Pivotl, ORCHA — the UK govtech founder bench is heavily ex-Whitehall. Cap table from week two, ten-slide deck, financial model, term sheets. A live investor pipeline by demo day — with warm introductions to UK govtech-friendly funds.
Common questions.
Can the civil service really fund this?
Increasingly yes. The Apprenticeship Levy applies to large departments; departmental L&D budgets have grown explicit AI lines since 2024; some Fast Stream and senior cohort programmes can co-fund. Full funding routes here; we are happy to write the supporting case.
I am at SCS / Grade 7 / SEO level. Is this realistic?
Yes, at every level above HEO. We have had Grade 7s and SCS through the cohort. The Academy is full-time during the twelve weeks — secondment, sabbatical or sandwich arrangement is usually the structure.
Are you a Crown Commercial Service supplier?
Not currently a CCS framework supplier — the Academy is a course, not a vendor of AI services. Most civil-service students fund through L&D or Levy routes rather than commercial procurement.
Will I learn how to procure AI properly?
Yes, by building it. After twelve weeks of writing eval suites and shipping AI features, vendor pitches read very differently. Several past students have moved into AI commissioning roles inside their departments on the back of the cohort.
Is this approved by Government Digital Service / DSIT?
No formal endorsement; the Academy is independent. Several civil servants from across departments have attended without issue; the case for the funding has been made internally each time.
More Academy entry points.
The Academy is one course with many doors. Each of these pages is a different entry point into the same twelve weeks.
Build it. Sell it. Raise on it. In twelve weeks.
Tell us which department or function you sit in and what AI tool you would build for it. James and Louis read every application personally and reply inside the week.
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