Innovation funding for AI solutions

Innovation funding for AI solutions is sponsored by Innovate UK (Technologies Mission Fund). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Competition overview - Collaborative AI Solutions to improve productivity in key sectors - Innovation Funding Service Your application has timed out You have been signed out as you were inactive for 8 hours. We do this to keep your information secure. You need to sign back in to continue with your application.

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Collaborative AI Solutions to improve productivity in key sectors UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £32 million for innovation projects that can improve productivity in key sectors through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This funding is from the Technologies Mission Fund. Competition opens: Wednesday 27 September 2023 Wednesday 8 November 2023 5:00pm This competition is now closed.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £32 million in innovation projects. The aim of this competition is to support the development and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) solutions in the priority sectors of transport, construction, agriculture and creative industries.

identify an end user for your solution within one of the priority sectors clearly indicate how your solution will improve business productivity or efficiency in one of the priority sectors demonstrate how key partners will facilitate the commercialisation of research This competition is split into 2 strands: collaborative R&D projects (this strand) It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct strand for your project.

You will not be able to transfer your application and it will not be sent for assessment if it is out of scope. In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.

Your project’s total grant funding request must be between £700,000 and £1. 2 million. have a grant funding request between £700,000 and £1.

2 million last between 10 and 12 months carry out all of its project work in the UK intend to exploit the results from or in the UK Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful. You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source. To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules . You must involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), one large enterprise and one academic institution or RTO.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered: public sector organisation research and technology organisation (RTO) Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in the Innovation Funding Service.

They are responsible for entering their own project costs and completing their Project Impact questions in the application. To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application. Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses.

Their costs will count towards the total project costs. Subcontractors are allowed in this competition but they are limited to no more than 20% of each project partner’s total grant request. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK. You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs. A business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further 2 applications. A business that is not leading on an application can collaborate in a total of 2 applications.

An RTO, Academic Institution or Public Sector Organisation can collaborate in any number of applications. 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 Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable) This competition provides funding 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.

Please see our general guidance to check if these rules apply 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 always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom. This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries. Up to £32 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition.

Funding will be in the form of a grant. 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 industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of: 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 experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of: up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation up to 25% if you are a large organisation For more information on company sizes, please 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 . The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them.

Of that 30% you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to: 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic 100% of your project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation The aim of this competition is to support the development and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) solutions in the priority sectors of transport, construction, agriculture and creative industries.

identify an end user for your solution within one of the priority sectors demonstrate an improvement in business productivity or efficiency in one of the priority sectors. demonstrate how key partners will facilitate the commercialisation of research We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, technological maturities, locations, strands and themes, and research categories.

We call this a portfolio approach . Your project can focus on one or more of the following: data driven decision making automation of administrative tasks project management optimisation supply chain optimisation and forecast models intellectual property (IP) management This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

We will fund industrial research projects and experimental development projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research .

Projects we will not fund We are not funding projects that are: in advertising and marketing involved in direct primary production in fishery and aquaculture involved in direct primary production in agriculture i.e. the project must be undertaking research and development, the solution must be for exploitation by the wider business community and the funding cannot be used for capital asset acquisition related to the purchase of road freight transport 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 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 that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs) 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 4 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 providing support, in the form of reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. Watch the video on how we are making our application process more accessible and inclusive for everyone. You must contact us as early as possible in the application process.

We recommend contacting us at least 15 working days before the competition closing date to ensure we can provide you with the most suitable support possible. You can contact us by emailing support@iuk. ukri.

org or calling 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

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

Select which of the key sectors your project best aligns to; creative industries, agriculture, transport and logistics, construction. 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 could 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. If 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 400 words long. The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 and 2. 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. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.

Question 1. 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 the geographical location of all applicants.

Your answer to this question can be up to 400 words long. Question 2. 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 who do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: In process of being applied for Your answer to this question can be up to 400 words long. Question 3.

Need or challenge What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation?

the main motivation for the project the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity whether you have identified any similar innovation and its current limitations, including those close to market or in development any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example, if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations and using our Horizons tool if appropriate Your answer to this question can be up to 800 words long.

Question 4. Approach and innovation What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified how your innovation will increase business productivity how you will improve on any similar innovation that you have identified whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas, or a totally disruptive approach how AI will be used in a trustworthy and responsible manner the freedom you have to operate how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings how it will make you more competitive the nature of the outputs you expect from the project, for example reports, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design, and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified You can submit one appendix to support your answer.

It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Your answer to this question can be up to 400 words long. Question 5. 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 if your project is collaborative, the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project any roles you will need to recruit for 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, up to 4 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom. Your answer to this question can be up to 400 words long.

Question 6. 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 (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 to this question can be up to 400 words long.

Question 7. 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 to this question can be up to 400 words long.

Question 8. 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 to this question can be up to 400 words long.

Question 9. 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 You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer.

It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom. Your answer to this question can be up to 400 words long.

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 You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer.

It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long, and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom. Your answer to this question can be up to 400 words long.

How will this public funding help you to accelerate or enhance your approach to developing your project towards commercialisation? What impact would this award have on the organisations involved?

what advantages public funding would offer your project, for example: appeal to investors, more partners, reduced risk or a faster route to market (this list is not exhaustive) the likely impact of the project outcomes on the organisations involved what other routes of investment or means of support you have already approached and why they were not suitable how any existing or potential investment or support will be used in conjunction with the grant funding what your project would look like without public funding how this project would change the R&D activities of all the organisations involved Your answer to this question can be up to 400 words long.

Question 12. Costs and value for money How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

In terms of your project goals, explain: the grant you are requesting how each partner will finance their contributions to your project how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise the balance of costs and grant across the project partners any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project Your answer to this question can be up to 400 words long.

Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. Academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form . For full details on what costs you can claim see our project costs guidance.

You can also view our Application Finances video . This section is not scored but will provide background to your project. Each partner must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.

More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video. This competition is operated by Innovate UK. Innovate UK complies with the requirements of GDPR , and is committed to upholding the data protection principles, and protecting your information.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles. If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK KTN . Support for SMEs from Innovate UK EDGE If you receive an award, you will be contacted about working with an innovation and growth specialist at Innovate UK EDGE .

This service forms part of our funded offer to you. These specialists focus on growing innovative businesses and ensuring that projects contribute to their growth. Working one-to-one, they can help you to identify your best strategy and harness world-class resources to grow and achieve scale.

We encourage you to engage with Innovate UK EDGE, delivered by a knowledgeable and objective specialist near you. If you are successful with this application, you will be asked to set up your project . You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification.

This takes you to your IFS Set Up portal, the tool that Innovate UK uses to gather necessary information before we can allow your project to begin . You will need to provide: the name and contact details of your project manager and project finance lead a redacted copy of your bank details a collaboration agreement In order for us to process your claims, you must make sure you have a valid UK bank account.

It is possible that it can take several weeks for a new account to be created. We would recommend starting this process as early as possible to avoid any delays to you project start date. The bank details you give to us must relate to a UK high street bank that is regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

The account must have a BACS clearing facility and be in the same company name as your application. If you have any doubts that your bank account will not meet Innovate UK's funding criteria, you can use the sort code checker . If you input the sort code and find a tick next to the ‘BACS Direct Credit payments can be sent to this sort code’, this will give you an indication that the bank account you hold is acceptable.

We will carry out checks to make sure you are an established company with access to the funds necessary to complete the project. You must check your IFS portal regularly and respond to any requests we have sent for additional information to avoid any delays. Failure to complete project setup may result in your grant offer being withdrawn.

Your Grant offer letter (GOL) Once you have successfully completed project setup, we will issue your GOL. The GOL will be made available on your IFS portal. You will need to sign and upload this for us to approve before you can start your project.

If your GOL is approved on or before the fifteenth of the month, it will be dated from the first of that month. If your GOL is approved after the fifteenth, it will be dated the first of the next month. You must not start your project before the date stated on your GOL.

Any costs incurred before your agreed start date cannot be claimed as part of your grant. If your application is unsuccessful If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.

Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition. If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.

ukri. org or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

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