AI Solutions to improve productivity in key sectors

Overview

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £32 million in innovation projects.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to support the development and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) solutions in priority sectors (transport, construction, agriculture and creative industries).

Your project must:

identify an end user for your solution within one of the priority sectors
demonstrate an improvement in business productivity or efficiency in one of the priority sectors

Specific Themes

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

data driven decision making
automation of administrative tasks
project management optimization
supply chain optimisation and forecast models
waste management
intellectual property (IP) management
design

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

Eligibility

Your project must:

have a grant funding request of up to £100,000
last between 4 and 8 months
carry out all of its project work in the UK
intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
start on 1 April 2024
end by 31 March 2025

Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.

To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

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

Subcontractors are not allowed in this competition.

A business can only lead on one application.

You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding projects that are:

in advertising and marketing
involved in direct primary production in fishery and aquaculture
involved in direct primary production in agriculture i.e. the project must be undertaking research and development, the solution must be for exploitation by the wider business community and the funding cannot be used for capital asset acquisition
related to the purchase of road freight transport

Innovate UK 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

Funding Costs

Up to £32 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. 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.

For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, you could get funding 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

For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation
up to 25% if you are a large organisation

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