TechLocal AI Professional Degree and Traineeship Accelerator

Key Features

UK academic institutions and education providers can apply for funding to develop initiatives that build industry ready AI professionals aligned to local skills demand. Funding of £7.8 million is provided by DSIT.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £7.8 million

Opens: 4th Feb 2026

Closes: 18th Mar 2026

Overview

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will work with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to invest up to £7.8 million in innovative projects. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.

These will be to address the local and strategic demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) skilled individuals ready to enter the industry job market.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to develop Level 6 and Level 7 higher education and professional practice courses, graduate traineeships and work experience opportunities which prepare people for a career in Artificial Intelligence (AI) roles or within the AI industry.

Your projects must:

  • be delivered and impact one or more of the specified geographical areas
  • be clearly focused on Artificial Intelligence technology
  • have a real commitment to diversity and inclusion
  • not replicate the aims or activities of other TechFirst initiatives
  • be delivered with strong levels of employer engagement
  • have clear focus and impact on employment readiness
  • deliver real world projects and placements for students or graduates to equip them for immediate impact in the workforce

See the AI Skills for Business Competency Framework for a clear, role‑aligned articulation of industry‑relevant AI skills for professionals to support your proposal.

The specific geographical areas are:

  • North West England
  • South West England
  • Yorkshire and Humber
  • North East England
  • East Midlands
  • West Midlands
  • South East England
  • East of England
  • London
  • Scotland
  • Wales
  • Northern Ireland

Your project can:

  • consider self-sustaining mechanisms to continue after the funding period
  • demonstrate collaboration with other local organisations or government bodies to boost reach and impact
  • integrate the professional practice of AI with other disciplines
  • tackle specific regional skills gaps or capitalise on local strengths, including leveraging local tech clusters and employer networks

Portfolio approach

Innovate UK want to fund a variety of projects across different geographical areas, type of initiative, value for money and theme. Innovate UK call this a portfolio approach.

Innovate UK are prioritising projects that have a presence or are already operating in the geographical area where the project is going to be delivered. Innovate UK will be using the answer to Question 8 to determine this.

An organisation is considered to have a presence in the geographical area if it can show a substantive and active operational footprint. This means meeting at least one of the following criteria:

  1. Physical infrastructure: Own or hold a long term lease on a staffed delivery site, campus or office within the region.
  2. Existing learner base: Have delivered education or skills training to residents or employers in the region within the last 18 months.
  3. Staffing presence: Have at least 50% of the project delivery team permanently based at a location within the region.

Specific Themes

Your project must focus on one or more of the following:

  1. Develop and deliver new or updated Level 6 undergraduate equivalent, or Level 7 masters equivalent AI focused curricula and courses with integrated professional work practice. This can include the development of multiple modules or an entire course.
  2. Deliver new partnership mechanisms between educators and employers to support innovation in the local ecosystem and provide opportunities for students and graduates to gain meaningful work experience.
  3. Deliver a new industry graduate traineeship-style model where graduates work in teams under expert mentorship to deliver AI innovation projects with local businesses, gaining business exposure, industry skills and teamwork experience.
  4. Facilitate career acceleration and professionalisation of AI-skilled graduates, supporting progression into advanced roles where skills shortages and gaps exist.
  5. Provide internships, work placements or cooperative education where students work alongside or within local organisations to complete work relevant to their studies in AI.

Eligibility

Your project must:

  • have a grant funding request between £100,000 and £300,000
  • last between 18 and 45 months
  • not start before 1 July 2026
  • end by 31 March 2030

Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs.

You will be made ineligible if you exceed the Minimal Financial Assistance limit. You must submit a complete declaration as part of your application.

Lead organisation

To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered academic institution or education provider.

To work alone your organisation must be an academic institution or education provider. Other types of organisations can only collaborate.

A UK registered academic institution is a higher education provider based in the UK. It must be formally recognised within the UK higher education system. In England, this means being registered with the Office for Students (OfS). In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, recognition and oversight are through the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Medr (Wales), and the Department for the Economy (DfE NI).

An education provider is a legally registered UK organisation whose main purpose is to deliver education, training or skills.

For this competition, this includes:

  • Further Education (FE) colleges
  • Independent Training Providers (ITPs) eligible to deliver publicly funded training under Skills England oversight
  • Providers listed on the Apprenticeship Provider and Assessment Register (APAR)
  • Organisations delivering regulated qualifications through recognised awarding bodies

The lead applicant must be based in the region that the project will be delivered in.

To be considered based in the region, the lead applicant must meet at least one of the following criteria:

  1. Registered office: Have a registered business address within the target region, as listed on Companies House.
  2. Operational presence: Operate an established physical site or campus in the region from which the project will be managed and delivered.
  3. Local economic link: Employ the staff leading and delivering the project primarily at a location within the regional boundary.

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be a UK registered:

  • business of any size
  • academic institution
  • charity
  • not for profit
  • public sector organisation
  • research and technology organisation (RTO)

Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs in the application.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must:

  • apply for funding when entering their costs into the application
  • include rationale for the collaboration and describe the structure in your application
  • ensure any one partner does not account for more than 70% of the total eligible costs

Non-funded partners

Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK.

Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK.

You must also provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you.

Innovate UK expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. Innovate UK will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

Number of applications

An academic institution or education provider can lead a maximum of two applications and can collaborate in any number of applications.

If an academic institution or education provider is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number applications.

A business of any size, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO) can collaborate in two applications.

If these limits are exceeded, applications will be made ineligible. Where an organisation appears on more applications than permitted, only the first two eligible applications submitted will be considered.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding projects that:

  • are not in scope for this competition
  • do not have clear impact in one or more of the 12 specified geographical areas
  • do not have an impact or application in AI or AI-related disciplines
  • replicate the aims or activities of other TechFirst initiatives

Innovate UK cannot fund projects that:

  • involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture
  • involve primary production in agriculture
  • are not allowed under de minimis regulation restrictions
  • are not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance
  • are dependent on export performance, for example, giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • are dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, if we give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product

Funding Costs

Up to £7.8 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant. The funding will be allocated as follows:

  • £5 million to the delivery of new AI Professional Practice Courses or Modules
  • £2.8 million to the delivery of Traineeships

Innovate UK reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

Your total project costs will be eligible for up to 100% funding subject to MFA subsidy rules. You must apply for 100% funding. Total project costs detailed within your application must not exceed the maximum project size of £300,000. If your total project costs do exceed the maximum then your application will be made ineligible.

Your project costs can be higher than your grant funding request. You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution in your application answers. It must not be detailed in the finance section.

For more information on company sizes, refer to the Company accounts guidance.

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 100% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 100% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

  • 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic
  • 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.