1,000+ Opportunities
Find the right grant
Search federal, foundation, and corporate grants with AI — or browse by agency, topic, and state.
DARPA's Artificial Intelligence Exploration (AIE) Program Announcement (DARPA-PA-25-03) constitutes a series of unique funding opportunities that use streamlined contracting procedures and funding mechanisms to achieve a start date within three months of an opportunity announcement, with researchers working to establish the feasibility of new AI concepts within 18 months of award.
AIE is a key element of DARPA's broader AI investment strategy designed to maintain U.S. technological advantage in artificial intelligence research, supporting fundamental and applied R&D projects aimed at developing AI systems that function as trusted and collaborative partners in solving problems of importance to national security.
Periodic AIE Opportunities are solicited through Solicitation Notices under Contract Opportunities on SAM. gov, with relatively short response windows of 30 to 45 days from announcement to abstract deadline.
AIE is the most agile entry point for AI researchers with breakthrough ideas across DARPA's strategic priorities including agentic AI, AI safety and trust, multi-agent coordination, AI for cybersecurity, and AI for scientific discovery.
Get alerted about grants like this
Get emailed when new opportunities from “Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)” or related funders appear. Free, weekly, unsubscribe anytime.
Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Open to U.S. academic institutions, nonprofit research organizations, for-profit companies (including small businesses), and federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs). Both single-organization and team proposals accepted. International collaborators allowed subject to specific opportunity terms and export control compliance. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows individual AIE awards typically up to approximately $1 million per project for 18 months. Periodic AIE Opportunity solicitations released throughout the program announcement period under DARPA-PA-25-03. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
DARPA Artificial Intelligence Exploration AIE Program Announcement for Rapid AI Research is funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
The FY2026 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education, with emphasis on multidisciplinary research where more than one traditional discipline interacts. The Army, Navy, and Air Force basic research offices are seeking applications across 22 topic areas including artificial intelligence and autonomy, information sensing and processing, and systems manipulation. MURI grants typically provide $1.25 million to $1.5 million per year for three years with option to extend two additional years. Approximately $170 million in total funding is available annually across all topics. The program is administered through the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Army Research Office (ARO), and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).
The NSF Convergence Accelerator is a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that funds multidisciplinary teams working to solve national-scale societal challenges through convergence research and innovation. Launched in 2019 under NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, the program operates in two phases: Phase 1 awards are up to $750,000, with successful teams advancing to larger Phase 2 awards. Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education and nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Track I and Track K focus on specific high-priority topics announced each funding cycle. The next deadline is June 15, 2026. Proposals must comply with updated NSF research security policies effective July 2025.
The AI3 Action Institute is a federal effort to build dedicated AI capacity within Native communities rather than fund a single applied AI project. The awardee establishes and operates an AI resource hub for Native communities, providing technology information, facilitating information sharing and technology deployment across tribal and Native-serving organizations, and conducting stakeholder engagement and coalition building across industry, government and academic sectors. Notably, allowable costs cover short-to-medium-term staff costs including the Institute's director as well as facility setup - a recognition that the binding constraint in this space is institutional infrastructure and staffing, not project ideas. The financial structure is the detail that most shapes strategy: with a $2,500,000 floor, a $3,500,000 ceiling and $3,500,000 in total expected program funding across a three-year period, this is effectively a single-award competition, so applicants should assume they are competing for the entire program rather than for a slot in a cohort. Eligibility is restricted to Native-serving entities - federally recognized Indian tribes, incorporated non-federally or state-recognized tribes, consortia of Indian tribes, Native community-based organizations, Urban Indian Organizations, Alaska Native villages and entities, Native Hawaiian serving agencies, Native Pacific Islander serving agencies, and tribal colleges and universities. That eligibility list is broader than many ACF opportunities, extending to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander serving agencies as well as tribal entities. Applicants should expect the strongest proposals to combine an existing convening role in Native technology or education with a realistic plan for standing up durable staff capacity within the grant period, since a hub that dissolves when funding ends would not serve the program's purpose. The deadline is August 27, 2026, and applications are submitted through Grants.gov under opportunity number 362270.
DPA26BZ05-DV019 asks small businesses to reduce ISR video transmission from small drones by 90 to 99 percent while preserving what an operator actually needs, on a Jetson-class board at a 2-watt final power budget. It is Direct-to-Phase-II, up to $1.5 million base plus a $500,000 option, and its exclusion list — no weapon release, no lethal engagement, no named-person identification — is the most strategically revealing paragraph in DARPA's FY26 Release 5.
Read articleDPA26BZ05-DV018 is the largest award in DARPA's FY26 SBIR Release 5 — up to $3 million over 18 months, Direct-to-Phase-II only. It funds four subsystem tracks for an underwater 3D concrete printer that uses seafloor sediment and seawater with under 20 percent binder. Here is what the Trenton program already proved, why the track structure is really a supplier-qualification exercise, and who can clear the prior-feasibility bar in the four weeks that remain.
Read articleTwo weeks after the DARPA Lift Challenge ended with the winner at 3.84:1 — short of the 4:1 target — DARPA posted a Direct-to-Phase-II SBIR that requires empirical proof of a 4:1 payload-to-weight ratio to bid. DPA26BZ05-DV022 offers up to $1.5 million over 24 months across two tracks that map exactly onto the Challenge's two design prizes. Here is who can actually clear the entry bar, what the month-9, month-18, and month-24 gates demand, and why the certification language is the real story.
Read article