NC Releases AI Strategic Roadmap — Opportunities for Winston-Salem's Innovation and Education Sectors

North Carolina released a statewide AI Strategic Roadmap on July 1, 2026, outlining 17 strategic goals across three priorities—Protect, Prepare and Transform—with no dedicated implementation funding, leaving Winston-Salem's Innovation Quarter, Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University to compete for a place in decisions that could shape research, training and jobs.

The roadmap is non-binding and advisory, with most goals requiring new legislation and funding from the Republican-led General Assembly to be implemented.

Governor Josh Stein, whose Executive Order No. 24 on September 2, 2025, established the AI Leadership Council that created the roadmap, said the council's leadership would "harness AI to unlock economic growth, attract innovation, improve government efficiency, and prepare our workforce." The council plans to meet quarterly, release a second progress report in June 2027 and request lawmakers address implementation in the 2027 legislative session.

The Protect priority includes eight goals focused on safeguarding residents from AI-driven harms, including fraud, privacy violations, deepfakes and cybersecurity threats. The Prepare priority includes four goals focused on workforce and education readiness, including expanding AI literacy in all 100 counties, supporting PK-13 education, creating workforce pipelines and credentialing 50,000-plus residents in AI skills. The Transform priority contains five goals aimed at modernizing state government with AI, including delivering better public services, establishing government-wide AI resources, driving statewide innovation and improving transparency and accountability.

Each goal includes an assigned owner and target date, with the N.C. Department of Information Technology and the N.C. Department of Commerce named as the primary implementation partners. Lee Lilley, Secretary of Commerce, said the roadmap would "make sure AI strengthens opportunity in every region of our state."

Yet the roadmap names several specific university partners—North Carolina Central University, Davidson College, Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University—without mentioning any Winston-Salem institution. The AI Leadership Council includes four university representatives from UNC Chapel Hill and one from North Carolina Central University, with no members from Winston-Salem. Among them: Dr. Stan Ahalt, Dean of UNC Chapel Hill's School of Data and Information Sciences; Dr. Siobahn Day Grady, Founding Director of North Carolina Central University's Institute for AI & Emerging Research; and Tommy Sowers, Deputy Director of Duke University's Initiative for Science and Society. The roadmap contains no geographic distribution requirements for AI investments and no mandatory seats for institutions outside the Triangle.

Wake Forest University offers a Master of Science in Business Analytics with a curriculum embedded with Applied AI, including a course titled Applied AI for Advanced Analytics covering large language model architecture, AI automation and enterprise integration. The university also offers a graduate Data Science Certificate through its Department of Computer Science and Department of Statistical Sciences, covering algorithms for structured and unstructured datasets, statistical modeling, data mining and database theory. Wake Forest's School of Medicine houses a Department of Biostatistics and Data Science focused on health-related data science research.

Winston-Salem State University received a $50,000 Cisco grant in February 2026, with $20,000 allocated to expand AI training for faculty and IT staff using Cisco tools, artificial intelligence and network security, alongside hands-on workshops and a cybersecurity internship. WSSU is developing an interdisciplinary AI minor open to students across all majors, covering technical, ethical and social dimensions of AI. The university was selected for the AAC&U Institute on AI for Student Success in 2025-2026, where it is developing a university-wide AI policy and expanding AI-infused courses.

The Winston-Salem Innovation Quarter functions as a nexus for five academic institutions, with Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Wake Forest School of Medicine serving as primary research engines for biotech. The Innovation Quarter hosts accelerators including Winston Starts and Sparq Labs, which provide mentorship, office space, funding guidance and lab spaces for early-stage biotech and regenerative medicine entrepreneurs. Fifteen new life science companies have moved into or expanded in the Innovation Quarter within the past 18 months. The district explicitly includes information technology and digital media as key facets of its ecosystem alongside biomedical science.

North Carolina launched NC ALIGN, an advisory council to advance defense innovation and economic growth, on July 9, 2026, convened by the Office of Science, Technology & Innovation and bringing together leaders from industry, academia, government and national security organizations. NC ALIGN's initial participants include the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty, Fleet Readiness Center East at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and the U.S. Army Research Office in Research Triangle Park. Scott Dorney, Executive Director of the North Carolina Military Business Center headquartered at Fayetteville Technical Community College, is a member of the NC ALIGN Advisory Council. The Military Business Center operates a statewide network of 15 centers embedded in community colleges, with regional program managers including Rick Gilmore in Greensboro.

Pending House Bill 1004 in the 2025-2026 legislative session proposes allocating $16 million in nonrecurring funds and $8 million in recurring funds for AI Hubs at UNC constituent institutions, requiring a 10% non-state match. The UNC Board of Governors would select up to eight constituent institutions to serve as AI Hubs by December 1, 2026, with funds allocated equally among selected institutions, and at least one hub must be located at a Public Historically Black College or University or at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Wake Forest is a private institution and is not eligible for AI Hub funds under HB 1004, which applies only to UNC constituent institutions. WSSU, as a UNC constituent institution, is eligible to compete for selection.

The same bill proposes $70 million in nonrecurring funds for Technology Hubs at each UNC constituent institution for tech innovation, workforce upskilling, entrepreneurship and advanced manufacturing, and $30 million in nonrecurring funds for AI research grants through the NC Collaboratory. Separately, Senate Bill 735 proposes establishing the AI Innovation Trust Fund to provide grants to AI companies and entrepreneurship programs, administered by the Secretary of Commerce, but the bill is pending and the fund has not yet been legally established.

WSSU must prepare a competitive application for AI Hub selection by December 1, 2026, positioning its developing AI minor, AAC&U Institute participation and Cisco-funded training programs as evidence of readiness—and secure the required 10% non-state match to qualify.

Winston-Salem's Innovation Quarter, Wake Forest and WSSU should form a regional AI coalition to present a unified front when applying for grants under the proposed AI Innovation Trust Fund and NC Collaboratory research funding. Local elected officials and business leaders must press for seats for Winston-Salem representatives on the AI Leadership Council and NC ALIGN advisory bodies. Local legislative champions must push for amendments to pending bills that include geographic distribution requirements or reserve seats for institutions in underserved regions, ensuring Technology Hub and AI Hub funding does not concentrate in the Triangle.

The AI Leadership Council's plan to seek legislative action in the 2027 session gives Winston-Salem institutions a narrow window to build coalitions and advocate for inclusion before funding decisions are made. Without proactive advocacy, Winston-Salem risks a familiar pattern: state policy promising statewide benefit while resources and advisory roles flow to institutions with proximity to Raleigh.