Frontier AI Benchmarking Datasets

Key Features

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £4.5 million. This programme focuses on the creation, curation, annotation and exploitation of FAIR-data and benchmarks which will fuel AI industry growth. This funding is from Innovate UK.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £4.5 million

Opens: 21st Apr 2026

Closes: 27th May 2026

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Grant Overview

Innovate UK will invest a minimum of £4.5 million to support projects with Frontier AI Benchmarking datasets.

Grant Scope

The aim of this competition is to support projects that create high-quality benchmarks using dataset slices to enable the evaluation of new AI models, while developing larger, AI-ready annotated and curated datasets.

Projects must fall within one or more of the following specific themes:

  • Theme 1: AI Enabled Health and Life Sciences
  • Theme 2: Advanced Materials with AI

Eligibility Criteria

When applying for funding, your project must have total costs of between £500,000 and £750,000. Projects must start by 1st September 2026 and end by 31st August 2027, lasting between 6-12 months. Funded organisations need to carry out their project work in the UK and intent to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

Lead: To lead a collaborative project, organisations must be a UK registered business of any size or research and technology organisation. The consortium must contain at least one UK registered micro, small or medium sized company claiming grant funding on this application.

Project team: To collaborate with the lead, organisations must be a business of any size, academic institution, charity, not-for-profit, public-sector organisation or research and technology organisation.

Non-funded partners: Projects can include UK organisations that do not claim funding for their own work on the project. These costs will be covered from their own resources and can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries so long as results are exploited outside of the UK.

Subcontractors: Subcontractors are allowed in this competition and can be from anywhere in the UK. Overseas subcontractors cannot be used.

Number of applications: A business or research and technology organisation can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications. If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in two applications. RTO’s not leading any applications, can collaborate in any number of applications. Academic institutions, charity, not-for profit or public sector organisations can collaborate on any number of applications.

Previous applications: Previously submitted applications cannot be used in this competition.

Grant Exclusions

The following projects cannot be funded:

  • Projects that do not sufficiently provide a quantified serviceable addressable market, provide clear background IP ownership or rights or a specific defensibility route.
  • Projects not aligned with the competition theme and projects not addressing the scope of the competition
  • Projects that do not sufficiently provide a named baseline with metrics and numeric targets for validation
  • Projects that are primarily literature review studies, requirement gathering, without substance experimental R&D
  • Projects that propose routine integration, deployment, orchestration or production of existing AI tools or third-party models without novel AI and ML development
  • Projects not delivering measurable and specific objectives
  • Projects that focus primarily on non-AI, ML R&D and development
  • Projects without a clear technical novelty and feasibility challenge
  • Projects that do not result in defensible foreground IP
  • Projects that develop fully autonomous targeting
  • Projects that have the primary purpose of developing hardware

Grant Funding

Innovate UK are offering up to £4.5 million to fund innovation projects. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, funding requests must not exceed the below limits.

For Industrial Research in Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme you can receive funding for eligible 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

Research Participation

Research organisations undertaking non-economic activities as part of the project can share up to 20% of the total eligible costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity this maximum is shared between you. Of that 20% you can receive funding for eligible projects costs of up to:

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

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

  1. Research organisations using the Je-S system must submit their costs through the Je-S system which calculates the 80% FEC figure.
  2. On IFS, only the 80% FEC output should be entered at 100% funding.
  3. Applicants do not need to show the remaining 20% on the finance table.

For further information on this competition, please see full details.

Full competition details

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Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.