Key Features
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £2 million in grant funding to deliver AI demonstrator projects. These projects are intended to benefit efficiency in supply chains and increase firm level productivity.
Programme: Innovate UK
Award: Share of up to £2 million
Opens: 24th Jun 2024
Closes: 21st Aug 2024
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £2 million in innovation projects. This funding is from Innovate UK’s BridgeAI programme.
These projects will be to accelerate the development and adoption of artificial intelligence solutions across supply chains of the UK economy. The projects are intended to benefit efficiency in supply chains and improve business decisions at firm level.
The aim of this competition is to develop a product or process that enables data from micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and large organisations to be shared in a trust less environment. The product or process must enable the development of new Artificial Intelligence solutions for the benefit of supply chain efficiency and firm level productivity. The output of these projects must be in the form of a demonstrator.
Your project must:
You must also demonstrate benefits for at least two of the three key sectors areas:
Portfolio approach
Innovate UK want to fund a variety of projects across markets, technological maturities and research categories. We call this a portfolio approach.
Your project can focus on one or more of the following:
Your project must:
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 or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.
Lead organisation
To lead a project your organisation must:
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.
Project team
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
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 and completing their Project Impact questions in the application.
To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least four other organisations must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.
Non-funded partners
Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example, non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total 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.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
Subcontractor costs are limited to 20% of each partners total costs.
Number of applications
A business, research and technology organisation (RTO) or not for profit organisation can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.
If an RTO, not for profit or public sector organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.
An academic institution can collaborate on any number of applications.
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 cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
Innovate UK are not funding projects that are:
Innovate UK cannot fund projects that are:
Up to £2 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.
Choose the applicable categories below:
Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme Category 1 Feasibility studies, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:
Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme: Category 2 Industrial Research projects, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:
Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme: Category 2 Experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
Research participation
The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 20% 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 20% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.
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