Frontier AI Discovery

Key Features

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £2.5 million to develop feasibility studies for frontier AI and foundation models. This funding is from Innovate UK.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £2.5 million

Opens: 14th Apr 2026

Closes: 10th Jun 2026

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Grant Overview

Innovate UK will invest a minimum of £2.5 million on advancing development of Frontier AI, machine learning and innovation in the UK.

Grant Scope

The aim of this competition is to advance development with projects focussing on feasibility studies to develop novel AI and ML technologies that help build the delivery consortia in Phase 2.

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
  • Theme 3: Secure AI for National Security and Defence
  • Theme 4: Fundamental AI

Eligibility Criteria

When applying for funding, your project must have total costs of between £25,000 and £50,000. Projects must start by 1st October 2026 and end by 31st January 2027, lasting up to 3 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 work alone, organisations must be a UK registered business of any size, research organisation, research and technology organisation, charity, not for profit, public sector or non-governmental organisation.

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

Number of applications: A business, research organisation, research and technology organisation, charity, not for profit, non-governmental organisation or public sector organisation can only lead on one application.

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 or developing fully autonomous targeting
  • Projects without a clear technical novelty and feasibility challenge
  • Projects that do not result in defensible foreground IP
  • Projects with the primary purpose of developing hardware where AI is only a secondary feature

Grant Funding

Innovate UK are offering up to £2.5 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 Feasibility Studies in Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme, you can 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

Research Participation

Research organisations undertaking non-economic activities as part of the project can share up to 100% of the total eligible costs. Of that 100% 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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