Innovate UK Frontier AI Discovery Funding Competition is sponsored by Innovate UK. Innovate UK Frontier AI Discovery Funding Competition is a grant from Innovate UK that funds feasibility studies for frontier AI, machine learning, and foundation models in the UK.

Frontier AI Discovery - GOV-UK Find a grant UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £2. 5 million to develop feasibility studies for frontier AI and foundation models. This funding is from Innovate UK.

Opening date : 14 April 2026, 10:00am Closing date : 10 June 2026, 11:00am Get updates about this grant Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest a minimum of £2. 5 million on Frontier AI. This funding is from Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation and is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.

The aim of this competition is to advance the development of frontier Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and foundation models in the UK. This competition has 2 phases, the second phase will be available to successful applications from Phase 1. Innovate UK will invest a minimum of £50 million for development of Frontier AI demonstrator projects in Phase 2, delivered by collaborative consortia.

Funding for Phase 2 is subject to Business Case approvals. The Frontier AI R&D Consortia programme aims to accelerate and deliver novel UK-led AI capabilities.

The programme is bringing together large scale consortia, to develop foundation models and frontier AI solutions aligned with one of the four missions: AI-Enabled Health and Life Sciences: Making the UK the best place to develop and deploy AI across medicines discovery, development and manufacturing, predictive healthcare applications, and clinical trials.

Advanced Materials with AI: Building a world leading AI-first materials R&D capability spanning aerospace, net zero technologies, defence materials, semiconductors. Secure AI for National Security and Defence (NS&D). Enable the UK’s defence sector to become a leading integrator of secure AI-enhanced command and control and AI enabled sensors.

Fundamental AI: Advancing Foundation Model AI capabilities that can underpin multiple sectors and future applications. In this competition series, Foundation Models refers to highly generalisable AI models or model families. These are designed to adapt across multiple downstream tasks or domains and are anchored to a hypothesis that supports adaptability.

In this competition series, Frontier AI refers to be any AI and ML systems that deliver state of the art benchmark performance against or genuinely new to the world capability in a clearly specified area. This advance must be attributable to innovation in one or more of the following: model and system architecture core control and learning algorithm The Frontier AI Discovery is Phase 1 of the pipeline.

We are seeking applications that will assess the feasibility of ambitious collaborative R&D proposals and help build consortia for Phase 2. These proposals must capture opportunities aligned with the thematic priorities by developing new‑to‑the‑world AI and ML capabilities. As part of our funding portfolio, we expect to fund at least 25% of projects on the development of foundation models.

Your proposal must deliver: feasibility and technical proposal for Phase 2 business model evaluation the development of delivery consortia for Phase 2 de-risking of the next stage of development through this feasibility study Successful Phase 1 projects will be invited to submit full proposals for collaborative R&D projects with project costs from £5 million to £10 million per project and duration of 24 to 32 months.

Funding for Phase 2 is subject to Innovate UK Business Case approvals.

Any organisation can lead a Phase 2 project and for your consortium to be eligible your project must: have total costs of between £5 million and £10 million last between 24 to 32 months Phase 2 project consortium must have minimum participation from: large organisations contributing 30% to 40% of the project costs SME organisations contributing more than 30% of the project costs academic organisation contributing 20% to 30% of the project costs In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process.

This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it. Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have 2% chance of success.

We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.

We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief .

We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information. Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £25,000 and £50,000. Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone.

This includes making reasonable adjustments , for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance. We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place.

The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

have total costs of between £25,000 and £50,000 Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK. Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK.

Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date. You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs .

For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition. To work alone your organisation must be a UK: research and technology organisation (RTO) public sector organisation non-governmental organisation (NGO) More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules . Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process. You cannot use subcontractors from overseas. All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.

Subcontracting costs are limited to 30% of total project costs. A business, research organisation, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit, non-governmental organisation (NGO) or public sector organisation can only lead on one application.

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions .

For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups . Use of animals in research and innovation Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation . Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process.

This information will be reviewed before an award is made. You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

We will not award you funding if you have: failed to exploit a previously funded project an overdue independent accountant’s report failed to comply with grant terms and conditions Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable) This competition provides funding to enterprises using the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme. The Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Scheme can be viewed on the subsidy database here: SC10780 . This is in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation. gov.uk) Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.

EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation. In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation.

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations. You must not do anything which could cause a breach of Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.

This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries. This award is classified as a Subsidy which does not form part of your Minimal Financial Assistance or De Minimis allowance. A minimum of £2.

5 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions. If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below.

These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

For Feasibility Studies in Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme you can get funding for your eligible project costs of: Category 1 Feasibility studies up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation up to 50% if you are a large organisation For more information on company sizes, refer to the company accounts guidance .

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 . Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn. The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 100% of the total eligible project costs.

Of that 100% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to: 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding Research organisations using the Je-S system must submit their costs through the Je-S system which calculates the 80% FEC figure.

On IFS, only the 80% FEC output should be entered at 100% funding. Applicants do not need to show the remaining 20% on the finance table. To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics .

The aim of this competition is to advance the development frontier Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and foundation models in the UK. Your project must focus on a feasibility study to develop novel AI and ML technologies and help build the delivery consortia for Phase 2.

Your proposal must result in AI driven novel products, processes or services that can make substantial technological improvements in addressing specific priorities from the listed thematic areas.

Your proposal must articulate clearly: which thematic area and specific priority of this competition you are addressing the approach to engage and mobilise diverse stakeholders needed to deliver the feasibility study and Phase 2 if successful what new to the world innovation you plan to develop and why your organisation is best placed to lead this work Your project must undertake a feasibility study to: build a consortium to develop a technical proposal and evaluate the business model confirm the commitment of this consortium if successful and invited to participate in phase 2 propose the development of novel, new to the world AI and ML driven innovation that addresses opportunities aligned with at least one of the thematic areas in this competition produce a technical report outlining the approach you intend to implement in phase 2 Funding will be reserved for projects where AI is the core technical contribution and the main source of operational advantage.

To be in scope of this competition your project must clearly describe: serviceable market and customers background IP and route to defensibility technical novelty and benchmarked validation We want to fund a variety of projects across different organisation types, technologies, markets, technological maturities and themes. We call this a portfolio approach . Your proposal must fall within one or more of the following themes.

You must focus on one specific priority within each theme you select. If your application does not align with the theme and specific priority you select, it will not be sent for assessment. Theme 1: AI Enabled Health and Life Sciences: making the UK the best place to develop and deploy AI for drug discovery, development and manufacturing of medicines, clinical trials and healthcare delivery.

You must focus on one of the following priorities: medicines development and manufacturing process optimisation predictive healthcare applications to support healthcare delivery genomics and multi-omics may be used as enabling technologies across any of the above areas, where relevant Theme 2: Advanced Materials with AI: building a world leading AI-first materials R&D capability, including applications in aerospace, net zero technologies, defence and semiconductors.

You must focus on one of the following priorities: material prediction: generative models and multi objective optimisation physics Machine Learning (ML) models for discovery and simulation acceleration multimodal knowledge discovery platforms Theme 3: Secure AI for National Security and Defence (NS&D). Enable the UK’s defence sector to become a leading integrator of secure AI-enhanced command and control and AI enabled sensors.

You must focus on one of the following priorities: AI driven assured multi-source fusion and analytics for distributed heterogeneous information, multimodal systems for decision support edge autonomy and robust decision, control AI systems, Low-Swap inference, quantum-AI and semiconductor-AI for novel underwater sensors secure and robust AI, ML driven signal processing, AI for acoustic signal processing and digital EW UKRI is committed to maximising the contribution that intellectual and knowledge assets, including intellectual property, arising from research and innovation we fund, can make to supporting national security and defence, including through dual use.

Please see UKRI published guidance on National Security and Defence research for more information. Theme 4: Fundamental AI. Advancing foundation model AI capabilities that can underpin multiple sectors and future applications.

You must focus on one of the following priorities: abstract reasoning and generalisation novel AI, ML architectures & methodologies, online learning and world model learning systems generalisable explainable AI We will fund feasibility projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research .

Projects we will not fund We are not funding projects that: do not sufficiently provide a quantified serviceable addressable market do not sufficiently provide clear background IP ownership or rights do not sufficiently provide a specific defensibility route do not align with the competition theme and specific priority areas do not sufficiently provide a named baseline with metrics and numeric targets for validation do not sufficiently address the scope of the competition are primarily literature review studies, requirement gathering, without substantive experimental R&D propose routine integration, deployment, orchestration or productisation of existing AI tools or third-party models without novel AI and ML development are not delivering measurable and specific objectives are primarily routine integration or deployment of existing AI tools without substantive technical innovation don’t have clear technical novelty and feasibility challenge do not result in defensible foreground IP focus primarily on-non AI, ML R&D and development (cross-cutting projects) develop fully autonomous targeting have the primary purpose of developing hardware, including sensor hardware, quantum hardware, platforms or other enabling infrastructure, where AI is only a secondary feature, add‑on analytics layer or downstream application We cannot fund projects that are: dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product Online briefing event: register to attend (Briefing slides will be available to download from Supporting Information after the event) You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure: that all the information provided in the application is correct your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria all sections of the application are marked as complete You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

The application is split into four sections: Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357.

Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). This section provides background for your application and is not scored. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.

Decide which people from your organisation will work with you on the project and invite those people to help complete the application. Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Select the type of research you will undertake.

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application. Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description.

This can happen before you start your project. Your answer can be up to 400 words long. Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition.

Your answer must sufficiently explain: approach to building consortium novelty and intended AI capability you are looking to develop how your solution will be defensible what new to the world or state of the art AI capability you will validate If your answer is not sufficiently detailed or your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why. Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 to 7. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding .

You must answer all questions. You must not include any website addresses or links (URLs) in your answers. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.

Question 1. Themes (not scored) Select one main theme from the specific themes list in the ‘Scope’ section of this competition. You cannot choose more than one.

Theme 1: AI-Enabled Health and Life Sciences Theme 2: Advanced Materials with AI Theme 3: Secure AI for National Security & Defence (NS&D) Question 2. Applicant location (not scored) You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.

Question 3. Animal testing (not scored) Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance . Question 4. Permits and licences (not scored) Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?

We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: In the process of being applied for Question 5. International collaboration (not scored) Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement?

You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers.

If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this. Your answer can be up to 100 words long Question 6. Export licence (not scored) You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance .

You must select one option: Question 7.

Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored) You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles , including: a list of any dual-use (both military and non-military) applications to your research a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.

We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions. Your answer can be up to 400 words long Question 8. Intellectual property (IP) position, freedom to operate and defensibility What is your intellectual property (IP) position, what is your freedom to operate, and how will you make the innovation defensible?

Explain, using evidence where possible: background IP and control: what you own and control that underpins the innovation including ownership and any third party rights and constraints foreground IP: what new protectable assets will be created in this project and how you will capture and retain them defensibility map: how advantage will be sustained FTO, licensing and IP risks: key third party IP, open‑source, data licensing, standards constraints and your plan to assess and mitigate them Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 9. Need, technical development, validation and outputs What is the need or opportunity, what technical work will you undertake to address it, how will you validate it, and what outputs will you deliver?

Provide evidence where possible: need and state of the art innovation focus and technical objectives development plan and methodology: what you will build, for example, model, algorithm, system component, demonstrator and the methods you will use, including major technical uncertainties and risks outputs and progression: tangible outputs delivered by project end prototype, demonstrator, results, documentation and how this positions you for Phase 3 scale‑up Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. Provide a system, solution architecture diagram and validation, benchmark matrix. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB.

It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom. Question 10. Team and resources Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project any roles you will need to recruit for Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 11. Market awareness What does the market or markets you are targeting look like?

the target markets for the project outcomes and any other potential markets, either domestic, international or both the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist the current UK position in targeting these markets the size and main features of any other markets not already listed If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain: what the market’s size might be how your project will try to explore the market’s potential Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 12. Outcomes and route to market How are you going to grow your business and increase long term productivity as a result of the project?

your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position your target customers or end users, and the value to them, for example, why they would use or buy your product how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example, through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe: your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 13. Wider impacts What impact might this project have outside the project team?

Describe and, where possible, measure the economic benefits from the project such as productivity increases and import substitution, to: others in the supply chain Describe and, where possible, measure: any expected impact on government priorities any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative any expected regional impacts of the project Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative, on, for example: social inclusion or exclusion jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 14. Project management How will you manage your project effectively?

the main work packages of your project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome the management reporting lines your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

What are the main risks for this project?

the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks how you will mitigate these risks any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, and data sets any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and other requirements identified, and how you will manage this Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.