Agentic AI Pioneers Prize

Agentic AI Pioneers Prize is sponsored by Innovate UK. Prize for UK registered organisations to develop Agentic artificial intelligence solutions tackling sector challenges.

The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize - Innovate UK Business Connect Knowledge Transfer Partnerships The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1m to develop Agentic AI solutions for Advanced Manufacturing, Health and Life Sciences, and Creative Industries.

[taxonomy] => type_of_funding A share of up to £1 million (£250k each for 3 projects plus a further £250k to the best of the three) for the development of agentic AI solutions for the advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences, and the creative industries.

Creative Industries , Digital , Health , Manufacturing , Robotics & AI The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize is designed to unlock the transformative potential of agentic AI across the UK’s most dynamic sectors. By encouraging innovation in advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences, and the creative industries, this prestigious national competition seeks to position the UK at the forefront of next-generation artificial intelligence.

The competition invites UK-registered businesses of any size to present groundbreaking solutions to tackle sector challenges and compete for a share of a £1 million prize pot. Through active participation, entrants will reinforce the UK’s reputation as a trailblazer in AI-driven design and technology.

Winners will be awarded a distinguished prize fund, specifically established to honour and showcase exceptional advancements in agentic AI. This recognition offers significant national exposure, providing a platform for winners to highlight their achievements.

Successful applicants will have exclusive opportunities to pilot their AI solutions within real-world industry supply chains, supported by funding to both pilot and scale their innovation. Additionally, recipients will benefit from expert mentorship provided by High Value Manufacturing , Digital Catapult , and leading figures in both AI and their respective sectors.

This is a unique chance for innovators to gain national recognition, build valuable connections with peers, challenge owners, and AI specialists, and help shape the future of AI within advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences, and the creative industries.

The competition is organised across three pivotal sectors: For each sector, expert groups comprising challenge owners and AI specialists will define targeted challenge statements. Entrants will propose solutions to these real-world challenges, ensuring the competition drives meaningful industry impact. This initial Expression of Interest (EOI) stage is designed to assess eligibility only.

Applicants who meet the criteria will be invited to a Development Phase (Phase 2), where they can access one-to-one mentorship to assist with solution development. const el = $refs['accordion1']; const top = el. getBoundingClientRect().

top + window. pageYOffset - 80; // adjust offset window. scrollTo({ top, behavior: 'smooth' }); UK-registered SMEs and research organisations are eligible to apply either as sole applicants or as part of a collaborative team comprising up to three organisations, to develop innovative agentic AI solutions.

To be eligible to participate, you must Be led by a UK-registered business. Hold in-house agentic AI capability, with IP control of the core codebase. Demonstrate relevant expertise in agentic AI, particularly in its application to design settings.

Commit to carrying out all participation activities within the UK and intend to exploit the results in or from the UK. Innovate UK does not take any interest or ownership of any Intellectual property (IP) rights. Where you are collaborating, you are expected to agree background and foreground IP arrangements between yourselves before the solution validation exercise window.

This competition is open to single applicants and collaborations. Consortiums containing more than three organisations are not accepted. To lead a consortium, your organisation must be a UK-registered business of any size.

The lead will be the contracting party for any subsequent prize award. More information on the different types of organisations can be found in our funding rules . To collaborate with the lead organisation, you must be a UK-registered organisation.

Your consortium cannot include more than one large organisation. A collaboration can include up to three organisations in total (lead plus up to two partners). 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. An organisation may lead only one application but can be a partner on up to two further applications. If collaborating you can only be part of three applications.

If you wish to withdraw an application before the EOI deadline, please email support@iuk. ukri. org const el = $refs['accordion2']; const top = el.

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scrollTo({ top, behavior: 'smooth' }); A minimum of £1 million has been allocated to Pioneers Prize fund competition fund. This is an Expression of Interest (EoI) competition. You must be successful at EoI to be invited to Phase 2, Development Phase.

Full challenge statements will be released at the start of the Phase 2. The aim of this competition is to accelerate the adoption of agentic AI in design across three key UK growth sectors: We are looking for practical, testable solutions with a clear path to real-world deployment in the UK. const el = $refs['accordion3']; const top = el.

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scrollTo({ top, behavior: 'smooth' }); Agentic AI refers to systems that can take initiative, make decisions, and act autonomously toward a goal, often by proposing, evaluating, and refining solutions in context. In a design setting, this could include use cases such as: Conceptual ideation and discovery Agentic AI can act as a co-designer, helping teams explore ideas faster and more creatively.

AI agents can streamline repetitive or complex engineering tasks reducing cost and time. Agentic AI can act as a design partner or reviewer to improve quality. Lifecycle and systems engineering Agentic AI can coordinate across subsystems to orchestrate simulations and generate digital records.

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pageYOffset - 80; // adjust offset window. scrollTo({ top, behavior: 'smooth' }); Your project must address one challenge statement within your chosen sector. The finalised challenge statements will be shared with shortlisted teams.

The examples provided below are illustrative only, they represent the types of problems you may be solving, not the exact statements. AI to suggest promising new compounds with clear reasons and simple steps to make them, speeding up early-stage R&D. Next-gen material Recipes AI to recommend formulations and process settings to hit strength or heat-resistance targets faster.

Innovative product definitions Agents perform multidisciplinary topological and topographical optimisation driving improvement around performance, sustainability, manufacturability and cost. AI recommends machine selection, location and virtual commissioning to meet deadlines with fewer changeovers and lower energy use.

AI manages validation and verification activities, managing change, concession and inspection outcomes and impacts – catching issues earlier with less effort. Generative storyboarding assistant AI interprets scripts or briefs and autonomously generates visual storyboards, suggesting camera angles, scene compositions, and transitions.

Fashion design co-creator AI proposes garment styles, materials, and patterns based on mood boards, trend data, and sustainability goals. Architectural space planning AI suggests floor plans that meet your brief and improve daylight, flow, and usable space. const el = $refs['accordion5']; const top = el.

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scrollTo({ top, behavior: 'smooth' }); Expression of Interest open : 20 October 2025 Online briefing event : 23 October 2025, 10:00 am ( watch briefing recording ) Expression of Interest close : 19 November 2025, 11:00 am Development phase starts : 1 December 2025 Report deadline : 18 February 2026 Solution demonstration and judging week : 16 – 20 March 2026 Final judging : 16 – 20 March 2026 Winners announced at the ceremony const el = $refs['accordion6']; const top = el.

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scrollTo({ top, behavior: 'smooth' }); A briefing webinar was held on 23 October 2025: click here to watch the recording and download the slides . If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect . Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.

Our innovation and growth specialists provide our fully funded and bespoke support to clients nationwide. Please visit the Business Growth website to discover whether you could benefit from this advisory support, which is available to Innovate UK funded and non-funded businesses alike. Express your interest in applying 23/10/2025 | 10.

00 - 12. 00 The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize applicant briefing event This opportunity is part of Innovate UK Business Growth. Innovate UK Business Growth is a key part of the UK innovation agency’s investment in the innovative businesses that drive economic growth.

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