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AI4D Responsible AI, Empowering People is the second multi-year phase of the AI for Development (AI4D) program jointly funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK FCDO. The program funds responsible AI research, AI public policy, AI talent and education, and the scaling of AI innovations addressing development challenges across Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.
Funding streams cover applied AI research, networks of African AI institutions, women in AI, AI for climate adaptation, and policy capacity. Rolling calls are issued through the IDRC funding portal and regional partners.
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Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Lead organizations must be based in eligible low- and lower-middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, or the Pacific. Universities, research institutes, civil-society organizations, government bodies, and social-mission startups eligible. Global partners may participate as co-applicants. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows joint commitment of more than CAD 100,000,000 (~USD 73,000,000) across the program. Individual project grants estimated CAD 250,000 to CAD 3,000,000 (~USD 180,000 to USD 2,200,000) depending on call type (innovation, research, network, scaling). Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Applications for IDRC AI4D Responsible AI Empowering People Program for Global South AI Research and Innovation are due September 30, 2026. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, and final submission checks.
IDRC AI4D Responsible AI Empowering People Program for Global South AI Research and Innovation is funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). 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 AI4D Responsible AI Empowering People program is a major joint initiative by Canada International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) investing over CAD 100 million to support responsible AI development and deployment in the Global South. The program funds research organizations in developing countries to generate knowledge shaping inclusive ethical and sustainable AI policies. Individual grants of up to CAD 1 million support projects studying socio-economic impacts of AI building local AI research capacity strengthening health systems through contextualized AI solutions and developing responsible AI frameworks. Recent calls have focused on AI impacts in Africa awarding up to four grants per call. The related AI for Global Health (AI4GH) initiative provides CAD 22.3 million over seven years specifically for AI health research. IDRC also partnered with the International Science Council to explore AI impacts on science systems in the Global South. This is distinct from TWAS Seed Grants which target individual early-career African researchers and from Humanity AI which is a US-based philanthropic coalition.
IDRC AI4D Responsible AI Empowering People Program for the Global South is sponsored by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The AI4D Responsible AI Empowering People program is a major joint initiative by Canada International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) investing over CAD 100 million to support responsible AI development and deploym…
The Horizon Europe 2026 Cluster 1 Health work programme funds Virtual Human Twin (VHT) projects that combine AI, multimodal patient data, mechanistic biological models, and high-performance computing to build personalized virtual representations of cancer patients for diagnostics, treatment planning, and therapy response prediction. The VHT initiative supports interdisciplinary consortia developing AI-driven digital twins of cancer patients integrating imaging, genomics, proteomics, electronic health records, and physiological measurements with mechanistic and machine learning models. Funded projects must demonstrate clinical validation pathways and integration with European Health Data Space infrastructure. The cancer-focused VHT calls are part of the European Commission's broader €14 billion Horizon Europe 2026-2027 Work Programme adopted December 11, 2025, with at least 35% of the total budget (approximately €4.9 billion) dedicated to climate and health priorities. Cancer Mission calls close September 15, 2026 at 17:00 CET.
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.
Startup SG Tech is Enterprise Singapore's flagship grant for early-stage deep-tech startups commercializing proprietary technology, including AI, robotics, agentic systems, and machine learning. Proof of Concept (POC) grants up to SGD 250,000 fund early R&D feasibility, while Proof of Value (POV) grants up to SGD 500,000 fund later-stage prototyping and validation with industry partners. AI startups using Singapore as a regional Asia-Pacific base can use Startup SG Tech to fund model development, vertical AI applications, agentic deployments, and integration with Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0 priorities.
S. 3971 reauthorized SBIR/STTR through 2031 after the longest lapse in the program's history. Buried inside are a new $30M Strategic Breakthrough Award, per-company proposal caps arriving in FY2027, eight-watchlist foreign-risk screening, and bigger TABA budgets. Here is what each change means for who wins and who gets squeezed out.
Read articleThe May 29 OMB rewrite of 2 CFR Part 200 extends what has been a NASA-specific restriction since 2011 to every federal grant-making agency. Proposed §200.220 prohibits use of federal funds for collaboration with entities in or controlled by a 'covered foreign country' — currently the People's Republic of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. Proposed §200.202(e) requires senior political appointee written approval before any federal R&D award flows to a foreign entity. Together they reshape university international research operations more comprehensively than any policy change since the 2018 China Initiative. Comment deadline July 13.
Read articleS. 3971 — the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act — reauthorized SBIR and STTR through September 30, 2031 after a six-month lapse. The legislation adds Strategic Breakthrough Awards up to $30M with 100% matching, eight-watchlist foreign-affiliation screening, and FY 2027 per-company proposal caps. Companies that built their pipeline around volume submissions need a new strategy now.
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