AI Energy Grants

Canada AI Compute Access Fund is a grant from Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada that funds small and medium-sized Canadian businesses accessing cloud-based AI compute resources to scale and commercialize innovative AI projects. The fund covers two-thirds of eligible costs for Canadian cloud-based compute and half of eligible costs for non-Canadian compute services. Individual project awards range from $100,000 to $5,000,000 in compute costs, from a total fund of up to $300 million. Eligible applicants are Canadian-registered, for-profit companies with fewer than 500 full-time employees engaged in AI research and development with a clear commercialization pathway.

The NSF FDT-BioTech program (NSF 24-561) supports interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI, computational modeling, and biomedical innovation by funding the mathematical and engineering foundations behind digital twins and synthetic data for healthcare applications. Digital twins — computational replicas of biological systems, patients, or medical devices — require advanced AI and machine learning methods for their development, calibration, and deployment. The program funds research on methods and algorithms relevant to digital twins and synthetic humans, including AI-driven in silico evaluation of medical devices and treatments. Projects must be inherently interdisciplinary, combining expertise in mathematics, engineering, computer science, and biomedical domains. Collaborative projects across multiple organizations are encouraged and can receive up to $1 million in total funding over up to 3 years. The program is administered by multiple NSF directorates including the Division of Mathematical Sciences and the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, reflecting its cross-cutting nature. The deadline recurs annually on the first Monday in May.

The AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program (AISCIP) supports the design, construction, and operation of a national public AI supercomputing system in Canada. With approximately CAD $890 million allocated over seven fiscal years starting FY2026-27, this initiative is a core pillar of Canada's broader Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. The program funds hardware installation, data centre operations, and systems administration for high-performance AI-optimized compute infrastructure with Canadian data residency requirements. Successful applicants must demonstrate rapid deployment capability, scalable design, Canadian governance with data residency control, and broader economic benefits including domestic supply chain strengthening. This is distinct from the separately-funded AI Compute Access Fund, which subsidizes researcher access to existing compute resources. An informational webinar is available for prospective applicants.

Enhancing the Security, Privacy and Robustness of AI Models and Systems (SecureAI) is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: Proposals are expected to contribute to one or more of the following: Robust AI models and systems capable of resisting different classes of adversarial manipulation; Innovative defence mechanisms for AI models and systems against new attack families; Methodologies for detecting and mitigating attacks, such as data poisoning, backdoor exploitation and misclassification; AI systems leveraging privacy-enhancing technologies that maintain data confidentiality and regulatory compliance, enabling trusted in-house AI deployments (e.g., for governments and enterprises). Scope: The increasing reliance on AI in cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and decision-making processes raises concerns about the security and robustness of AI systems. As AI systems become more prevalent, they are increasingly targeted by adversarial attacks that manipulate inputs, compromise training data, or introduce hidden vulnerabilities. This topic aims to strengthen the resilience of AI systems and algorithms against various threats and attacks, such as enhancing their resilience against adversarial attacks, backdoor injections, and data poisoning. Proposals should develop real-time anomaly detection, mitigation techniques to defend against adversarial attacks and robust federated learning techniques, in synergies with leading efforts on AI transparency, and in compliance with the AI Act. The topic is expected to: Develop robust AI models resistant to adversarial attacks. Exploring techniques to harden AI models and systems against adversarial perturbations, such as adversarial training, robust optimisation, and defence mechanisms that enhance the trustworthiness of AI. Improve detection of manipulated or poisoned training data. Advancing methodologies to identify and mitigate compromised datasets, leveraging techniques such as anomaly detection, provenance tracking, and automated data validation mechanisms. Address the concept of Private AI by developing mechanisms that enable AI models to be trained, deployed and operated in privacy-preserving environments, particularly for sensitive use cases, as for example for government and enterprise settings. This includes ensuring AI computations and data remain within trusted execution boundaries (e.g. on-premise or regulated cloud environments), and leveraging existing and emerging privacy-enhancing techniques such as federated learning, secure aggregation, computing on encrypted data, quantum-safe homomorphic encryption and secure inference in deep learning to safeguard the protection of personal and other sensitive data throughout the AI lifecycle. Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Civil Security for Society, Cybersecurity Keywords: Artificial Intelligence & Decision support, Artificial intelligence, Artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, multi agent systems, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity Domains, Data Security and Privacy, Security Management and Governance, Security support in programming environments, AI Act, AI transparency, Private AI, adversarial training, adversarial attacks, anomaly detection, automated data validation, federated learning techniques, privacy-preserving environment, provenance tracking, quantum-safe homomorphic encryption, real-time anomaly detection, resilience of AI systems, secure aggregation, security and robustness of AI systems

Cancer Research UK's Discovery Programme Award provides long-term support for established researchers to pursue ambitious and creative programmes of work addressing key questions in cancer research. The scheme funds basic and early-stage translational research across multiple biological scales, with explicit support for AI, computational, and multidisciplinary approaches that create or apply novel technologies and methodologies to address previously intractable cancer questions. Eligible research areas include cancer biology and disease mechanisms, cellular behavior, whole-body cancer processes, novel imaging and radiotherapy technologies, disease-specific preclinical studies, and early-stage translational research. The scheme supports projects integrating AI/ML for cancer detection, diagnostic algorithms, drug target identification, image analysis, and modeling tumor evolution. The 2026 outline application deadline is September 29, 2026, with full applications by invitation following outline review. Committee review of full applications is expected June 2027. The Discovery Programme Award is a closed scheme requiring pre-application contact with CRUK programme staff to discuss alignment and fit with funding priorities. CRUK's Cancer Research Horizons commercialization arm supports translation of AI-driven discoveries into therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices.

EQUAL Compute Network is an IDRC-funded initiative to address compute inequities limiting Global South participation in frontier AI research. The network supports researchers, public-interest compute providers, and policy actors in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia to evaluate compute needs, build shared compute infrastructure, develop pooled access models, and inform national AI compute strategies. Sub-grants fund research nodes, pilot deployments of shared compute clusters, and policy analysis on compute access. Aligns with the wider AI4D portfolio and complements Canadian and EU compute sovereignty initiatives.

The 2026 ERDC Broad Agency Announcement (W912HZ26S0001) solicits research proposals across a broad range of engineering and scientific disciplines with significant AI and computational focus areas. Issued January 2, 2026, the BAA covers research in AI, computer science, remote sensing, geophysics, telecommunications, hydraulics, dredging, coastal engineering, instrumentation, oceanography, geotechnical engineering, earthquake engineering, vehicle mobility, military engineering, protective structures, infrastructure and environmental issues, energy, facilities maintenance, materials and structures, and ecological processes. ERDC seeks proposals applying machine learning, computer vision, autonomous systems, and AI-driven modeling to advance Army engineering capabilities across both military and civil works applications.

Microsoft Research's global academic research program providing Azure AI compute credits and access to cutting-edge foundation models for research advancing AI safety, human-AI interaction, and scientific discovery. The program operates through periodic Calls for Proposals, workshops, and conferences. Focus areas include AI safety and responsibility (robustness, transparency, evaluation methods), human-AI interaction (trust, creativity, productivity, reducing digital divides), and scientific discovery (knowledge discovery, hypothesis generation, multimodal data generation). The program is evolving into the Agentic AI Research and Innovation (AARI) initiative focusing on intelligent agent systems.

Part of Canada's Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, this fund provides financial support to Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises to access state-of-the-art computing infrastructure for AI model training and inference. The program covers cloud-based compute services including core compute, storage, licensing, processing, monitoring, and security requirements. Aims to ensure Canadian AI companies have affordable access to GPU compute power needed to develop competitive AI products and services.

The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, led by NSF in partnership with DOE, 13 federal agencies, and 28 industry and nonprofit partners, democratizes access to the resources needed for AI research. Rather than cash, awardees receive an integrated ecosystem of compute (HPC allocations and cloud GPU credits), curated datasets, pretrained models, and software platforms. Proposals are reviewed on a rolling monthly basis (submissions by the 15th are typically reviewed by month-end), and projects run for 12 months. A lighter Start-Up track offers a roughly two-week turnaround. All results must be open and publishable. The pilot has supported more than 600 projects and 6,000 students across all 50 states.

The Canada AI Compute Access Fund, administered by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), provides financial support to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) access the compute power needed to scale and commercialize innovative AI projects. The program has a total budget of $300 million CAD and offers awards from $100,000 to $5 million CAD per project over up to three years. The fund covers two-thirds of eligible costs for Canadian cloud-based AI compute services and half of eligible costs for non-Canadian compute services. Successful applicants receive funding as non-repayable, conditionally repayable, or repayable based on project alignment with public benefits and program goals. The fund is part of Canada's broader Sovereign AI Compute Strategy and complements the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program. On May 2026, Minister Solomon announced support for 44 Canadian companies across life sciences, healthcare, energy, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, finance, natural resources, and transportation through this fund.

The Scaleway Startup Program provides European early-stage startups with up to €36,000 in cloud credits for AI and machine learning workloads on Scaleway's sovereign European cloud infrastructure. Benefits include access to NVIDIA H100 and L40S GPU instances, Scaleway AI Inference and AI Training managed services, object storage, Kubernetes Kapsule, and serverless compute. The program targets European founders building generative AI, computer vision, and machine learning products who value EU data sovereignty (GDPR-native, hosted in EU data centers) and lower-cost alternatives to US hyperscalers. Participants also receive technical support, architecture reviews, and introductions to the Scaleway and iliad Group startup ecosystem (Station F, Kima Ventures). The program is rolling-application and complements other European compute schemes like OVHcloud Fast Forward.

The Biswas Family Foundation Fast Grants Program provides rapid funding for early-stage research projects at the intersection of artificial intelligence and health. Grants of $25,000, $50,000, and $100,000 support 12-month projects focused on biomedical AI, healthcare innovation, computational medicine, diagnostics, scientific discovery, and AI-enabled research tools. The Foundation runs two Fast Grants funding cycles each year, emphasizing speed and support for promising early-stage and high-risk ideas.

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program is sponsored by Various Federal Agencies (e.g., DoD, NIH, NSF). The SBIR program provides grants to small businesses for research and development with the potential for commercialization. It's often called 'America's Seed Fund' and focuses on scientific excellence and technological innovation across various technology areas, including AI, energy, medical devices, robotics, and semiconductors.

2025 Seed Grant for AI & Energy is a grant from the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon University that funds energy and climate research projects. The program has supported research since 2012 and expanded in 2025 to include a joint seed grant with the Carnegie Bosch Institute focused on evaluating household smart and flexible energy technologies and their contribution to power grid stability and efficiency. Recipients are expected to apply for larger externally funded projects after the initial seed period. Awards range from $10,000 to $75,000. Eligible applicants must be CMU faculty who are Scott Institute Faculty Affiliates; co-sponsored funding requires CBI Faculty Host status.

The Digital Research Alliance of Canada's Accelerated AI Investments program deploys up to $40 million in the 2025-2026 fiscal year to provide dedicated AI compute resources for Canadian researchers. The initiative makes GPU clusters including NVIDIA H100 and A100 hardware available through national HPC facilities including Narval, Cedar, Graham, and Niagara. Resources support AI model training, large language model fine-tuning, computer vision research, and other compute-intensive AI workloads. The program is part of Canada's broader Pan-Canadian AI Strategy which has invested over $2 billion since its launch. Allocations are processed through the Alliance's Resource Allocation Competition (RAC) and Rapid Access Service (RAS) pathways.

The Army GVSC Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) funds commercial technology developers advancing vehicle autonomy, AI, power systems, and related defense capabilities for ground combat and tactical vehicles. The CSO uses a flexible, rolling acquisition pathway to prototype AI-enabled autonomous driving, perception, and platform-management technologies, with awards typically between $500,000 and $2,000,000.

Artificial Intelligence Grant – NSF SBIR/STTR is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). The Artificial Intelligence Grant – NSF SBIR/STTR program funds startups and small businesses to create artificial intelligence technology. Focus areas include cutting-edge hardware technologies for sustainable AI, edge devices, and AI technologies that lead to better hardware systems. Proposals focused on developing new high-risk technical innovation with significant commercial and societal impact are welcome. This includes areas like cognitive science-based AI, computer vision, conversational AI, language-based AI, novel AI hardware technologies, sustainable AI for low-resource environments, and technologies for trustworthy AI.

Foundations for Digital Twins as Catalyzers of Biomedical Technological Innovation (FDT-BioTech) (NSF 24-561) is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF FDT-BioTech program supports interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI, computational modeling, and biomedical innovation by funding the mathematical and engineering foundations behind digital twins and synthetic data for healthcare applications.

The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot (NAIRR) is a program from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that funds the creation of an operations center to manage and expand the National AI Research Resource. It provides U.S. researchers and educators with sustained access to advanced AI tools, data, and expertise to support innovation, workforce development, and national competitiveness in artificial intelligence. The program prioritizes research on AI safety, evaluations, and societal impacts, and may provide up to $1,000,000 in compute credits for qualifying AI safety research. Eligible applicants include U.S. researchers, educators, and institutions seeking access to cutting-edge AI computing infrastructure and resources.

The NAIRR Pilot Start-Up Project Request is the entry-level track of the National AI Research Resource, giving researchers new to NAIRR quick access to GPU and AI computing resources for proof-of-concept work and scaling studies before submitting a full Research request. Projects receive a three-month allocation of a single resource, with review decisions returned within 2-3 weeks and projects required to begin within two weeks of award notification. Resources include up to 2,000 GPU-hours across systems such as PSC Bridges-2, Purdue Anvil AI, SDSC Expanse AI, and TACC Vista.

Canada AI Compute Access Fund for Subsidized Cloud AI Compute for Canadian SMEs is sponsored by Government of Canada – Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). The AI Compute Access Fund, part of Canada's $2 billion Sovereign AI Compute Strategy administered by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), subsidizes access to cloud-based AI compute for Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises.

AI on the edge for a secure and autonomous distribution grid control with a high share of renewable energies – AI4DG is sponsored by ANR (French National Research Agency). Develops a distributed AI on the edge platform for autonomous and secure battery storage control in low voltage grids with high renewable energy integration.

National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF) / U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot is a program from the National Science Foundation and U. S. Department of Energy that provides researchers with access to advanced AI computing infrastructure, software, data, models, and educational resources.

National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot is sponsored by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with 13 federal agencies and 28 industry partners. The NAIRR Pilot aims to democratize access to AI compute, datasets, and pre-trained models. Access is open to researchers, educators, and students at U. S. -based academic institutions, nonprofits, federal agencies, tribal agencies, and even startups with federal grants.

Empire AI Consortium is sponsored by New York State, State University of New York System, and philanthropic backers (e.g., Tom Secunda). Empire AI is a New York state project to further artificial intelligence technology research. It supports work on domains such as climate change, drug discovery, education, food insecurity, cybersecurity threats, and healthcare diagnostics. The consortium provides leading public and private research universities with access to state-of-the-art AI computing resources.

The Google for Startups Cloud Program provides venture-backed, early-stage startups with cloud and AI compute credits to build and scale on Google Cloud. AI-focused startups can receive up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits (versus $200,000 for other startups) usable over two years, along with access to GPUs and Cloud TPUs, dedicated technical support, training on building generative AI applications with Vertex AI and Gemini models, and Google mentorship. The program is designed to lower the compute cost barrier for startups training and deploying AI models.

NAIRR Pilot (National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot) is sponsored by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with 13 federal agencies and 28 industry partners. The NAIRR Pilot was created to democratize access to AI compute, datasets, and pre-trained models. It aggregates resources from contributors including Microsoft and NVIDIA. It is currently transitioning from the pilot phase to a permanent operations center.

U.S.-Qatar Strategic Partnership Initiative: Economic, Technology, and Security Cooperation (Freedom 250 Commemorative) is sponsored by U.S. Department of State, Embassy Doha. This funding opportunity supports projects that strengthen U.S.–Qatar strategic relations and advance U.S. economic and technological leadership, particularly in AI, energy, advanced manufacturing, and critical infrastructure. It seeks to expand opportunities for U.S. exports, investment, and commercial partnerships.

Advanced Manufacturing Grant (NSF SBIR/STTR Phase I) is a grant from the National Science Foundation that funds early-stage R&D by U.S.-based small businesses developing deep technologies with strong commercial potential. Phase I awards provide up to $305,000 for 6- to 18-month projects; Phase II awards can reach $1.25 million. NSF takes no equity in funded companies, leaving founders full control over their intellectual property and direction. Eligible applicants must be U.S.-based small businesses with fewer than 500 employees and at least 50 percent equity held by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. NSF funds projects across AI, energy, medical devices, robotics, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and many other technology areas.