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In 2012, a three-person team at the University of Toronto trained a neural network called AlexNet on two NVIDIA GTX 580 GPUs. The compute cost roughly $1,000. That work—funded by an NSERC grant and a Google Faculty Research Award—triggered the deep learning revolution. Today, training a frontier model can exceed $100 million.
The global pool of competitive AI funding now exceeds $30 billion annually. The U.S. federal government alone invested approximately $3.3 billion in non-defense AI R&D in FY2025, and the Department of Defense requested $13.4 billion for AI and autonomy in FY2026. Most of this funding goes to researchers who found it first—not researchers who deserved it most.
If you are a researcher in any field—biology, climate science, education, materials science, public health—who is integrating machine learning or AI methods into your work, this guide is written for you. Not for computer scientists. For the domain experts who are building the applications that actually matter.
| Your Field | Start Here | Also Check |
|---|---|---|
| Biomedicine & Health | NIH AI programs (Bridge2AI, NIBIB) | NSF BIO, SBIR Phase I |
| Climate & Environment | DOE AI for Science, AI Climate grants | NSF GEO, NOAA, Bezos Earth Fund |
| Agriculture & Food | USDA NIFA ($104M AI allocation) | NSF-USDA joint institutes |
| Defense & Security | DARPA BAAs (I2O, DSO, BTO) | IARPA, DOD CDAO, SBIR |
| Education & Workforce | NSF ExpandAI, Dept. of Education | Humanity AI coalition, IES |
| Materials & Engineering | DOE Genesis Mission, NSF ENG DCL | NIST, NSF MPS |
| AI Startup / Commercialization | NSF SBIR/STTR (20% success rate) | NIH SBIR, DOE SBIR, NVIDIA grants |
| AI Safety & Ethics | Open Philanthropy ($50M+/yr) | NSF SLES, Humanity AI, NIST CAISI |
DARPA
$314M core AI
I2O BAA, DSO BAA, BTO BAA, AI Forward, Young Faculty Award
Browse DARPA AI programs →DOE
$320M+ Genesis Mission
AI for Science, ModCon, 14 robotics projects, 37 foundational AI awards
Browse DOE AI grants →Four agencies dominate federal AI funding, but each operates with radically different priorities, review timelines, and success rates. Understanding these differences is the highest-leverage thing you can do before writing a word of your proposal.
NSF's flagship National AI Research Institutes program now funds 27 institutes across 40+ states, with five-year awards typically in the $16–20 million range. In July 2025, a $100 million infusion—co-funded by Capital One and Intel—stood up five new institutes and a community hub.
But the institutes are just the visible tip. NSF's CISE directorate funded 22% of proposals in FY2024 through programs like Safe, Trustworthy, and Responsible AI (SLES). The Engineering Directorate's Dear Colleague Letter for AI research opens doors for proposals that fall between disciplinary cracks—materials scientists using ML for alloy discovery, civil engineers deploying computer vision for bridge inspection, chemical engineers optimizing reactor design with reinforcement learning. If your work touches AI but you don't consider yourself an AI researcher, NSF's engineering DCL is probably your best entry point.
A program most applicants miss: the CISE Research Initiation Initiative (CRII), which provides $175,000 over two years to early-career researchers at non-R1 institutions. It is explicitly designed for investigators who lack the preliminary data and lab infrastructure that larger grants demand. For tenure-track faculty, the NSF CAREER Award remains the gold standard for AI researchers building their labs.
You do not pitch your idea to DARPA. You respond to a specific technical challenge that a program manager has spent months defining. The Information Innovation Office (I2O) runs a rolling Broad Agency Announcement covering proficient AI, resilient systems, and cyber operations. The Defense Sciences Office and Biological Technologies Office have their own BAAs that frequently include AI components.
What makes DARPA unique is speed. AI Exploration (AIE) opportunities use streamlined contracting to achieve a start date within three months of announcement. Performers then have 18 months to establish feasibility. Compare that to NSF's 6–12 month timeline from submission to award. The 2025 Young Faculty Award specifically targets early-career researchers at U.S. institutions, providing both funding and mentorship.
NIH does not have a single “AI grants” program. Instead, AI permeates virtually every institute and center, making it simultaneously the largest and hardest-to-navigate source of AI research funding. The reported $309 million in core AI R&D dramatically undercounts the real investment when you include bioinformatics, computational biology, and clinical decision support.
Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge2AI), funded at $130 million over four years through the NIH Common Fund, represents the most deliberate AI investment—it funds interdisciplinary teams to generate ethically sourced, AI-ready datasets in voice biomarkers, cell morphology, and clinical decision-making. The AIM-AHEAD program targets institutions underrepresented in AI research. NIBIB funds AI for medical image analysis. The National Institute on Aging supports AI Technology Collaboratories for elderly care.
The key insight for domain scientists: NIH program officers want to fund the science, not the method. A cancer biologist using graph neural networks for drug-target interaction prediction is more competitive than a computer scientist proposing the same network architecture without the biological question. The R01 success rate sat at roughly 22% in FY2024, but early-career rates dropped to 18.5% in FY2025 due to budget disruptions. Less competitive mechanisms—R21 exploratory grants, SBIR/STTR (where NIH success rates exceed 20%)—all welcome AI-powered approaches.
DOE announced over $320 million for its Genesis Mission in 2025—the largest single-year AI commitment in the agency's history. The investment spans a Transformational AI Models Consortium building self-improving models for science; 14 projects in robotics, automated laboratories, and autonomous experiments; and 37 foundational AI awards for data curation and model development. Congress appropriated $150 million through September 2026, with 24 collaboration agreements including Google DeepMind.
DOE's comparative advantage is infrastructure. The agency operates the most powerful supercomputers on Earth—Aurora at Argonne, Frontier at Oak Ridge—and provides researchers access through allocation programs. For researchers whose work requires massive compute—training scientific foundation models, running molecular dynamics simulations, optimizing fusion reactor designs, or processing petabytes of climate data—DOE is often the only realistic funding path.
USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture received a $104 million AI allocation in FY2025 and co-funds NSF AI Research Institutes focused on agriculture. NIST launched the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI, formerly the AI Safety Institute) with $50 million and stood up $20 million in Centers for AI in Manufacturing. The DOD Chief Digital and AI Office grew from $10 million in FY2022 to $140 million in FY2025. Even agencies without dedicated AI programs—EPA, NOAA, the Department of Education—co-fund AI-related research through joint solicitations with NSF.
American researchers routinely leave international money on the table. Many of the world's largest AI funding programs explicitly welcome U.S. participants as consortium partners, and the dollar amounts rival anything available domestically.
EU Horizon Europe adopted a €14 billion work programme for 2026–2027, with AI as a cross-cutting priority. The GenAI4EU initiative has grown to nearly €700 million. The RAISE initiative has €107 million earmarked for foundation models in materials science and climate, with a €30 million call for foundation model development opening Q1 2026. U.S. institutions can participate as consortium members—they don't receive EU funding directly, but their involvement strengthens the proposal and they share in research infrastructure and data access. The mechanism: find a European lead partner, join their consortium, and your institution covers your own costs (often through a parallel NSF or DOE award).
The UK committed £1.6 billion in targeted AI funding through UKRI from 2026 to 2030—their largest single investment area. Initial priorities include £137 million for AI-enabled drug discovery and Turing AI Pioneer Fellowships worth up to £2.19 million each. Japan has pledged 10 trillion yen ($65 billion) in government funding through 2030 and quadrupled its chips-and-AI budget to ¥1.23 trillion ($7.9 billion) in FY2026. RIKEN's AIP Center and JST fund international collaborations. South Korea's AI budget stands at &won;0.88 trillion (~$640 million) for 2025, with a threefold increase proposed for 2026. Singapore committed S$1 billion to its National AI R&D Plan over five years and runs targeted bilateral grant calls with Korea and Israel, typically funding $500K–$1.2M per project.
Browse EU AI funding →The most significant development in AI funding in the past two years is the emergence of philanthropic coalitions operating at government scale. Humanity AI, announced in 2025, pools $500 million from ten foundations—MacArthur, Ford, Mellon, Mozilla, Omidyar Network, Packard, Doris Duke, Lumina, Kapor, and Siegel Family Endowment. The coalition targets five priority areas: advancing democracy, strengthening education, protecting artists, enhancing work, and defending personal security. Pooled-fund grants begin in 2026.
Open Philanthropy committed roughly $50 million to technical AI safety research in 2024 and launched a $40 million RFP covering 21 research directions—essentially a roadmap for the field. If you work on alignment, interpretability, or AI governance, Open Philanthropy is likely your most efficient funding path. OpenAI's People-First AI Fund distributed $40.5 million in unrestricted grants to 208 U.S. nonprofits, with nearly 3,000 applicants. It targets organizations with operating budgets between $500,000 and $10 million.
Search our foundation directory to find funders by focus area, giving level, and geography. Corporate programs run on different timelines. NVIDIA's Academic Grant Program provides H100 GPU hours and DGX Spark supercomputers—no cash, but compute that would cost six figures on the open market. Amazon Research Awards provide up to $70,000 plus $50,000 in AWS credits per PI. Microsoft's AFMR grants up to $20,000 in Azure credits with a dedicated program for HBCUs and Hispanic-serving institutions. Google, Amazon, and NVIDIA all run 4–8 week review cycles—compare that to 6–12 months for federal agencies. The tradeoff: faster decisions, fewer compliance burdens, but potential restrictions on publication or IP. Read the terms carefully.
NSF's CISE directorate funded 22% of proposals in FY2024. NSF Engineering funded 23%. NIH R01 grants succeeded at roughly 22% overall in FY2024, though early-career rates dropped to 18.5% in FY2025 amid budget disruptions. SBIR Phase I awards land at 17–20% across agencies, with NSF running the highest rate. SBIR Phase II jumps to approximately 60%—the best odds in federal grantmaking, if you can clear Phase I. See our success rate data for detailed breakdowns by agency and program.
Timeline planning: Federal grants require 6–18 months from conception to award. NSF proposals typically take 6–9 months from submission to decision. NIH runs three standard receipt dates per year (February, June, October) with 9–12 month review cycles. DARPA moves faster —3–6 months for AIEs. Foundation and corporate grants run 4–12 weeks. If you need funding in 12 months, you should be submitting federal proposals now while pursuing foundation funds as bridge financing.
Before writing a single word, call the program officer. This is not optional. Every agency expects it, and program officers will tell you directly whether your idea fits their portfolio. A 15-minute phone call can save you three months of wasted effort.
Common mistakes that kill AI proposals: leading with the technology instead of the problem it solves; claiming novelty without citing the state of the art; proposing a system without a clear evaluation plan; underestimating the budget for compute, data labeling, and IRB compliance; and neglecting Broader Impacts (NSF) or diversity statements (NIH). Reviewers reject more proposals for poor fit than for poor science.
How to Write a Winning AI Grant Proposal
Fundamentals of structuring compelling AI research proposals
AI Grant Budget Templates
Budget justification for GPU compute, data labeling, and cloud costs
AI Grant Resubmission Strategies
How to respond to reviewer feedback and strengthen your proposal
Writing AI Ethics Sections
Responsible AI and governance sections reviewers want to see
NSF CAREER Award Guide
The most prestigious early-career award for AI researchers at universities
How to Respond to a DARPA BAA
Navigate DARPA's unique proposal process and win defense AI contracts
Grant funding is only half the equation. Several programs provide the compute, data, and infrastructure that AI research demands—often at zero cost. Our complete guide to GPU credits and compute allocations covers every program in detail.
NAIRR
NSF-led pilot connecting 600+ research teams to shared AI infrastructure. Rolling proposals accepted. Eligibility: universities, nonprofits, federal labs, tribal agencies, startups with federal grants.
DOE INCITE & ALCC
81 projects awarded supercomputer time in 2025 across Aurora and Frontier. Millions of node-hours at no cost. 2026 Call for Proposals is open.
NSF ACCESS
Free supercomputing for any U.S. researcher or educator—with or without an existing grant. Four tiers from Explore to Maximize. ML and data science workloads welcome.
Cloud Research Credits
AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure run academic credit programs providing $5,000–$100,000 in compute. Typically non-competitive—apply and receive credits.
Stack these programs. A well-funded AI research group might hold an NSF award for personnel, an INCITE allocation for large-scale training, NAIRR access for datasets, cloud credits for deployment testing—each at zero dollars beyond the time to apply.
New AI funding opportunities, deadline alerts, and grant writing tips every Tuesday.
The AI grants landscape shifts every week. New solicitations drop, deadlines move, agencies restructure priorities. Granted tracks AI funding across every source covered in this guide—search by sub-field, eligibility, deadline, and funding level. Check grants closing soon or recently added opportunities to stay current. For a complete overview of how to navigate this landscape, see our AI researchers hub. For teams building AI-powered research workflows, our MCP server lets your AI assistant query the database directly, and the weekly newsletter delivers curated opportunities every Tuesday.
In 2012, AlexNet needed $1,000 and one grant. Your next breakthrough may need considerably more. The funding exists. The question is whether you find it before your competitors do.
Data sources: NITRD FY2025 Supplement, NSF funding rates, NIH Reporter, DOE press releases, EU Horizon Europe work programme. Last verified February 2026.
Imminent Language Technology Innovators Grant Program is sponsored by Translated's Research Center (Imminent). Imminent allocates $100,000 annually to fund five original research projects that explore advanced frontiers in language services. This includes topics like language economics, language data, machine learning algorithms for translation, human-computer interaction, and the neuroscience of language. The goal is to make it easier for everyone to understand and be understood in a multilingual world.
AI in Healthcare Research Grants is sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH offers grants for AI and machine learning research in medicine, clinical care, and biomedical science. This includes programs for developing and testing AI tools that combine imaging and other health data to improve personalized care, as well as institutional grants for training in biomedical informatics, data science, and AI/ML.
Humanity AI Open Call is sponsored by Humanity AI (a collaborative initiative of Doris Duke Foundation, Ford Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Kapor Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Omidyar Network, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Siegel Family Endowment). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.
30 matching grants
NIST – Measurement Science and Engineering (MSE) Research Grant Programs 2025‑NIST‑MSE‑01 is sponsored by NIST. NIST – Measurement Science and Engineering (MSE) Research Grant Programs is a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that funds research and partnership activities in metrology, standards, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, advanced communicat…
AFRL GeoPEX Broad Agency Announcement for AI and Machine Learning Geospatial Intelligence Processing and Exploitation is sponsored by U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate. The Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate's Geospatial Intelligence Processing and Exploitation (GeoPEX) Broad Agency Announcement (FA8750-21-S-7006) is an open, two-step BAA funding research, development, integration, testing, and evaluation of technologies that…
FIRST Team Grant Opportunities (Boston Scientific FRC Grant) is sponsored by Boston Scientific (via FIRST Robotics). This grant is available for FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams in Massachusetts, focusing on supporting STEM education and fostering innovation through robotics. Funds can be used for hands-on STEM materials, physical computing kits, and coding curriculum.
The ONR Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (N00014-25-S-B001) is the Office of Naval Research's primary mechanism for soliciting research proposals across all naval science and technology priority areas. The BAA accepts proposals on a rolling basis through September 30, 2026 and covers ONR's full spectrum of research interests with particular emphasis on AI-related topics including autonomous maritime systems, human-machine teaming, machine learning for sensor fusion, cooperative autonomous swarm technology, undersea autonomy, and AI-enabled decision superiority. Proposals can be funded through multiple mechanisms including individual investigator grants, the Young Investigator Program (~$510K over 3 years for early-career faculty), and Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards ($1.5M/year for 3-5 years for research teams). ONR recommends contacting relevant program officers before submitting to discuss alignment with current research priorities. The BAA supports basic research (6.1), applied research (6.2), and advanced technology development (6.3) across the full range of naval-relevant science and engineering disciplines.
The EDA STEM Talent Challenge supports organizations creating and implementing STEM talent development strategies that complement their respective region's innovation economy, particularly in emerging and transformative sectors including artificial intelligence and machine learning, advanced manufacturing and robotics, space exploration, bioscience, quantum information science, and agricultural technologies. The program strengthens regional innovation ecosystems by building STEM talent training pipelines to help communities prepare for AI-driven economic shifts, with $25 million redirected specifically for workforce AI funding.
Novel Experiential Technologies Assisting Individual Learning (NExT AI) Hubs (P20 Clinical Trial Optional) is sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This NOFO funds exploratory research on how AI influences learning and development in children with or at risk for Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs), emphasizing innovation and community engagement.
Imminent Language Technology Innovators Grant Program is sponsored by Translated's Research Center (Imminent). Imminent allocates $100,000 annually to fund five original research projects that explore advanced frontiers in language services. This includes topics like language economics, language data, machine learning algorithms for translation, human-computer interaction, and the neuroscience of language. The goal is to make it easier for everyone to understand and be understood in a multilingual world.
AI in Healthcare Research Grants is sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH offers grants for AI and machine learning research in medicine, clinical care, and biomedical science. This includes programs for developing and testing AI tools that combine imaging and other health data to improve personalized care, as well as institutional grants for training in biomedical informatics, data science, and AI/ML.
Humanity AI Open Call is sponsored by Humanity AI (a collaborative initiative of Doris Duke Foundation, Ford Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Kapor Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Omidyar Network, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Siegel Family Endowment). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.
Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I Programs (SBIR/STTR Phase I) is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). This program encourages small businesses to develop large language model applications for educational purposes and funds early-stage research and development of unproven, leading-edge technology innovations with significant commercial and societal impact. This includes AI systems and AI-based hardware, emphasizing next-generation AI technologies that are safe, reliable, fair, robust, privacy-preserving, and efficient.
This program will advance scientific community datasets to enable scientific discovery and innovation using artificial intelligence (AI) and other methods. Its goal is to increase the value that can be derived from existing scientific datasets by leveraging novel methods and artificial intelligence (AI). This will unlock new AI-driven insights. It can enable interdisciplinary research. It also enables investigations outside of the original motivation for data collection and analysis. The program seeks to 1) apply AI-based capabilities to feature extraction and metadata generation, and the integration of multiple datasets. 2) Develop robust data pipelines necessary for automated analysis of existing datasets and similar use-cases by AI tools and systems. 3) Augment and/or harmonize existing datasets to better enable use by AI data pipelines and automated analysis. Proposals should address dataset security and integrity. Governance and the process for scientific communities to contribute to the datasets should also be addressed. Proposals are encouraged to leverage existing resources. These may includeNSF data platforms, the NSF Integrated Data Systems and Services program, the NSF-led National AI Research Resource, the Genesis Mission platform, or other national infrastructure. NSF is open to exploring partnerships with philanthropy, private industry, or the non-profit sector to support additional proposals or collaborative opportunitiesthat will advance AI-driven scientific discovery through unlocking the value of high-impact scientific datasets. Expanding Participation in STEM, NSF Priorities, and Gold Standard Science: NSF prioritizes cutting-edge discovery science and engineering research, advancing technology and innovation, and creating opportunities for all Americans. NSF has established priorities set forth by Congress, the administration and the NSF director to promoteNSF's mission. Proposers should review the list ofNSF prioritiesand are encouraged to align their proposals with them, where appropriate. NSF also expects the highest standards of scientific rigor, integrity and adherence tenets ofGoldStandard Sciencein proposals, as appropriate for the field of science and research modality. Funding Opportunity Number: 26-512. Assistance Listing: 47.041,47.049,47.050,47.070,47.074,47.084. Funding Instrument: G. Category: ST. Award Amount: $100M total program funding.
AI in Instruction Microgrant Program is sponsored by Penn State University, AI Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning. This program offers awards to individual faculty members at Penn State pursuing small-scale instructional innovation with generative AI. It is designed to support the integration of artificial intelligence into teaching and learning in alignment with Penn State's AI Transformation Initiative.
Program or Large Course Transformation Grant Program (Penn State) is sponsored by Penn State University, AI Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning. This program supports team-based efforts at Penn State to reimagine teaching and learning at the course or program level, with a focus on integrating artificial intelligence. Proposals must incorporate at least one of the following alongside AI integration: experiential learning, reimagined assessment, or civic learning.
Program or Large Course Transformation Grant Program is sponsored by Penn State University, AI Center of Excellence for Teaching and Learning. This program supports team-based efforts at Penn State to reimagine teaching and learning at the course or program level through the integration of artificial intelligence. Proposals must also incorporate experiential learning, reimagined assessment, or civic learning.
Grants for Small Business Growth, Digital Development, and Tourism is sponsored by Various (Aggregator site, but program description is broad enough for general grants). This opportunity focuses on encouraging business growth and digital development for small businesses. Funds could potentially be used for artificial intelligence engineering design software infrastructure as part of broader digital development.
Texas Rural Health Transformation Program: Maternal Care is sponsored by Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). This initiative, part of Texas's larger Rural Health Transformation Program, focuses on maternal care through the Lone Star Advanced AI and Telehealth initiative. It funds rural provider networks that bring in specialty providers to deliver telehealth, including maternal care. Small businesses offering maternal health technology solutions via telehealth to rural networks would be relevant partners.
NSF TechAccess: AI-Ready America (Coordination Hubs) is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). This initiative aims to establish state or regional consortia that strengthen access to advanced computing, data, and AI resources for scientific research and workforce development. It envisions a future where every individual, community, and business in the U.S. thrives in an AI-driven economy by accelerating AI deployment and expanding access to AI knowledge, tools, training, and capacity-building.
TechConnect Critical Technology Challenge: Artificial Intelligence is a grant from TechConnect, in partnership with various federal agencies, that funds innovative AI and digital transformation solutions aligned with U.S. national security, societal, and economic priorities. The program is an extension of TechConnect's 25-year Innovation Challenge and provides participants with the opportunity to pitch to key industry, government, and investment decision-makers at a global conference (June 9-11, 2025 in Austin, TX). Participants gain direct access to leadership representing over billion in annual emerging technology funding through SBIR and Other Transaction Authority mechanisms. Eligible applicants include small businesses, university spin-offs, and independent innovators. Awards range from ,000 to ,000. The application deadline is December 15, 2026.
The Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI is sponsored by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This funding opportunity invites interdisciplinary teams from DOE National Laboratories, U.S. industry, and academia to leverage novel AI models and frameworks to address over 20 national challenges spanning advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear energy, and quantum information science. One of the challenge areas focuses on 'scaling the biotechnology revolution.' The goal is to develop an integrated platform that connects supercomputers, experimental facilities, AI systems, and unique datasets to accelerate scientific discovery and technological innovation.
USSOCOM Engage SOF (eSOF) is a Commercial Solutions Opening providing a rolling pathway for companies to submit AI and autonomous systems technologies aligned with Special Operations Forces capability needs across 14 domains including AI, ISR, cyber, mobility, weapons/electronic attack, command and control, ISR, and human performance. Selected vendors gain direct access to USSOCOM Program Executive Offices and rapid acquisition pathways. The program emphasizes AI, autonomy, drone warfare, and human-machine teaming as SOF transforms into the Pentagon's lead integrator of these technologies, with a portfolio of 487 active CRADAs and 832 active BAA submissions.
The EuroHPC JU Large Scale Access call provides industrial users with rapid access to AI Factories' GPU compute resources across European supercomputers (including MareNostrum5, LUMI, Leonardo, JUPITER, and others) for high-impact, high-gain innovative AI research. Cutoffs are rolling and bi-weekly through 2026 and into 2027 (example cutoffs: 30 Jan 2026, 16 Feb 2026, 27 Feb 2026, continuing through 4 Jan 2027). Minimum 50,000 GPU hours per proposal. Industry users requiring large compute for training foundation models, fine-tuning multimodal models, or running large inference experiments can submit on a continuously open basis. Academic and public-sector users should apply via the separate 'AI for Science' access mode. EuroHPC JU is overseeing 19 AI Factories and 13 AI Factory Antennas across Europe to provide free, customized support to SMEs and startups. Strong fit for European industrial AI labs and SMEs needing sovereign EU compute for training and serving large models.
Micro Grants: Academic Innovation (AI-focused, program-embedded, credit-bearing micro-credentials) is sponsored by Texas State University, Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Innovation. This micro-grant initiative expands meaningful artificial intelligence learning opportunities across academic disciplines at Texas State University. Proposed micro-credentials should prepare students to understand, apply, evaluate, create with, or responsibly govern artificial intelligence within their field of study and must be embedded within an existing degree program.
First Nations Innovation Acceleration Program is sponsored by Advance Queensland (managed by First Australians Capital). This program aims to support innovation within First Nations communities. If the Humanity AI Coalition has projects specifically focused on applying AI to benefit First Nations communities in Queensland, this could be a relevant opportunity.
NASBA Accounting Education Research Grants Program is sponsored by National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). This program supports research on educational issues impacting CPAs, the public accounting profession, and state boards' charge to protect the public. The 2027 Call for Proposals is open and seeks projects addressing pressing issues like the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on auditing and the growing role of private equity investment in accounting firms.
Accounting Education Research Grants Program is sponsored by National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). This program seeks to advance research on educational issues impacting Certified Public Accountants (CPA), the public accounting profession, and state boards' charge to protect the public. Research interest areas include, but are not limited to, adequacy of CPE requirements, the impact of private equity on the profession, changing retirement to aid the pipeline, and AI's impact on the audit function.
Clinical Evidence Synthesis Transformation Challenge is sponsored by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This is a two-phase AI competition focusing on medical evidence reviews. It aims to reduce analysis times for medical evidence from a year or longer to hours, with judging based on accuracy, throughput, reproducibility, usability, and ease of operation.
IARPA Solutions Marketplace Rolling Open Call for AI and Emerging Technology Solutions for the Intelligence Community (IARPA-OT-26-001) is sponsored by Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). This is a rolling open call for innovative AI and emerging technology solutions relevant to the Intelligence Community. Instead of a written proposal against a specific BAA topic, innovators submit a five-minute unclassified video pitch and basic supporting information through an online portal. Submissions are assessed in monthly cycles.
NASA SBIR/STTR Broad Agency Announcement 80NSSC26R0003 for AI, Machine Learning, Autonomy and Robotics Technologies is sponsored by U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA's restructured SBIR/STTR program, under Broad Agency Announcement 80NSSC26R0003, offers funding for AI, machine learning, autonomy, and robotics technologies. This program supports innovations for space exploration, cybersecurity, data systems for aerospace missions, and other relevant areas.
Artificial Intelligence and Next Generation Distributed Command and Control (C2) is a grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) that funds applied research into artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to transform Department of the Air Force command and control capabilities at strategic, operational, and tactical levels. The program (BAA FA8750-23-S-7006) seeks to enable decision makers to assess the battlespace, develop and select optimal plans, and direct forces at speed and scale in distributed settings. Eligible applicants include academic institutions, nonprofits, and commercial developers. Award amounts range from ,000 to ,000,000. White papers are accepted on a rolling basis through August 30, 2028; formal proposals are by invitation only.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase IIB Strategic Breakthrough Award (Parent [R44] Clinical Trial Optional) is sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH). This is a parent announcement for SBIR Phase IIB grants. While not exclusively AI-focused, NIH SBIR programs support small businesses developing promising technologies and products that align with their mission to improve health and save lives. This can include AI-driven solutions in healthcare.
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On July 22, 2026 the White House announced more than $5 billion and 15-plus federal agencies behind the Genesis Mission — a national effort to point AI at the hardest problems in science. Here is what the mission actually funds, how its five National Science and Technology Challenges map to real solicitations already opening, and how a research team or small business should position for the money flowing out of it.
Read articleNSF has moved to stand up the NAIRR Operations Center — a single award of up to $35 million over five years to run the National AI Research Resource. Backed by 14 federal agencies and 28 private partners, NAIRR has already connected 400+ research teams to compute and data most labs could never buy on their own. Here is what the transition from pilot to permanent program means, and how researchers actually get an allocation.
Read articleTen foundations pooled $500M for a five-year people-centered AI initiative. The first $18M tranche — $8M to 12 inaugural grantees at $500K each, $3M to AI Civics, $10M open call this summer — locks in the doctrinal frame nonprofits will need to fit.
Read articleThe Water Research Foundation's RFP 5394 — up to $200,000 to evaluate GenAI and Agentic AI scalability across at least six water and wastewater utilities, NIST AI RMF integration required, proposals due 3 p.m. Mountain Time on May 20 — is the first major sector-utility-funded AI research initiative to bake risk-management framework compliance into the work statement. Four days remain.
Read articleQ1 2026 saw $242 billion flow to AI startups — more than every VC dollar invested in 2019. Meanwhile, NSF faces a proposed 55% cut and NIH success rates hit a 30-year low. How the AI funding chasm is reshaping research strategy for academic scientists and small businesses.
Read articleQ1 2026 shattered venture funding records with $300 billion deployed globally — 80% to AI. Meanwhile, federal non-defense AI R&D sits at $3.3 billion, a fraction of what the National Security Commission recommended. What the great divergence means for grant-funded researchers.
Read article