Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £21 million in innovation projects across two phases of this competition. For this first phase of the competition £2 million has been allocated.

The aim of this competition is to accelerate the adoption of trusted and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies, by reducing bottlenecks during development and deployment of such technologies.

Funding is available to support feasibility studies for the building of a consortium to evaluate suitability of system architectures, specifications, and implementation methodologies.

Funding for both phases of this opportunity is subject to business case approval by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and HM Treasury.

Your proposal must:

• clearly indicate how your solution will contribute towards development of trusted and responsible AI and ML solutions
• indicate how your solution could accelerate development or deployment of AI and ML solutions
• identify a user case that is beneficial to micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• indicate how you will access data that is relevant for the development of your solution

This is phase 1 of a potential 2 phase competition.

• Phase 1: undertake a feasibility study to build a consortium that will help evaluate the technology approach and solution (this phase)
• Phase 2: if successful at phase 1, your consortium will be invited to submit a proposal to request funding for the development of your solution

Phase 2 projects are expected to be 12 month in duration and have project costs between £700,000 and £1.2 million.

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.

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Eligibility

Your project

Your project must:

• have a total grant request between £25,000 and £50,000
• start by 1 May 2023
• end by 31 July 2023
• last up to 3 months
• carry out its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Up to 40% of project costs can be spent on consortium building activities, which may include:

• workshops
• meetings
• travel and subsistence
• subcontracting to engage and build a consortium of organisations

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.

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

Lead organisation

To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered:

• research and technology organisation (RTO)
• micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)

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

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 could not use suppliers 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.

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

Number of applications

An micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or research and technology organisation (RTO) can submit up to 2 applications.