Deadline: September 10, 2025
UK registered businesses can apply for funding to develop Proof of Concept demonstrators of AI technologies with state-of-the-art performance, supporting the UK’s AI sovereignty objectives.
The aim of this competition is to demonstrate Proof of Concept of AI technologies with state of the art performance in areas of strategic importance to UK. This will ensure that frontier AI technologies are developed in the UK, safeguarding UK’s future economic growth and security and geostrategic influence.
Specific Themes
- Your project must focus on one or more of the following:
- Fundamental AI research:
- embodied AI, sensory motor grounded systems
- safe by design architectures, multi agent systems, agentic AI
- novel architectures including neuro symbolic, neuromorphic and biologically inspired models
- AI for materials discovery of:
- material discovery and property prediction
- generative and physics-ML hybrid models
- automated workflows and closed loop discovery
- AI for biosciences and health:
- genomics and multi omics models for medicines discovery
- foundational patient level health models
- foundational bioscience models
- scalable and secure monitoring and evaluation of health AI
- AI for defence and national security:
- real time and near real time systems
- distributed and decentralised systems
- specialised models for critical infrastructure management and cybersecurity
- AI aided design for:
- AI accelerator chips
- neuromorphic hardware
- optical backplanes
- Fundamental AI research:
Funding Information
- Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £50,000 and £120,000.
- A minimum of £1.6 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received. Funding will be in the form of a grant.
- If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.
- Choose the applicable categories below for the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme:
- Category 1 Feasibility studies
- Funding available for your eligible project costs of:
- up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
- up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
- up to 50% if you are a large organisation
- Funding available for your eligible project costs of:
- Category 2 Industrial research projects
- Funding available for your eligible project costs of:
- up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
- up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
- up to 50% if you are a large organisation
- Funding available for your eligible project costs of:
- Category 1 Feasibility studies
Ineligible Projects
- They are not funding projects that:
- are literature review studies
- do not require research and development
- are not delivering measurable objectives
- are unable to scale in principle
- They cannot fund projects that are:
- dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
- dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product
Who can apply?
- Your project
- Your project must:
- last between 1 and 3 months
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- start by 1 of January 2026
- end by 31 March 2026
- Your project must:
- Lead organisation
- To work alone your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
For more information, visit GOV.UK.
