Sovereign Artificial Intelligence (AI) Series One

Overview

Innovate UK is investing at least £1.6 million to fund proof-of-concept AI technologies that support the UK’s AI sovereignty objectives. The competition aims to validate scalable, high-performance AI solutions that will strengthen the UK’s economic growth, national security, and global influence.

Scope

Projects must demonstrate proof of concept for frontier AI technologies at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3–5. Validation can be achieved through system performance, subsystem components, or technical simulations using synthetic data. Proposals should evidence either new-to-the-world capabilities or state-of-the-art improvements to existing technologies, alongside a clear strategy for data access, compute infrastructure, and scalability potential.

Key themes and topics

Proposals must align with one or more of the following focus areas:

Fundamental AI research: embodied AI, agentic AI, multi-agent systems, safe-by-design architectures, neuromorphic and biologically inspired models.

AI for materials discovery: generative and physics-ML hybrid models, property prediction, automated workflows, and closed-loop discovery.

AI for biosciences and health: genomics and multi-omics models, medicines discovery, foundational bioscience and patient-level models, secure monitoring and evaluation systems.

AI for defence and national security: decentralised and real-time systems, critical infrastructure management, and cybersecurity applications.

AI-aided design: AI accelerator chips, neuromorphic hardware, and optical backplanes.

Projects outside research and development, literature reviews, or those without measurable objectives or potential scalability will not be funded.

Project duration

Projects must start on 1 January 2026 and end by 31 March 2026, lasting between 1 and 3 months. All work must be carried out in the UK.

Award value

Total eligible project costs must be between £50,000 and £120,000.

Funding rates

Funding will be provided as a grant under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme, with the following rates available:

Micro and small businesses: up to 70% of eligible costs

Medium businesses: up to 60%

Large businesses: up to 50%

Eligibility criteria

To apply, your project must:

- Have total eligible costs of £50,000–£120,000

- Last between 1–3 months

- Be carried out entirely in the UK and exploited from the UK

- Start on 1 January 2026 and end by 31 March 2026

Additional rules:

- A business can only lead on one application.

- Subcontractors are permitted but limited to 20% of total project costs and must be UK-based.

- Previous unsuccessful applications cannot be resubmitted.

- Organisations in financial difficulty, or linked to sanctioned entities, are ineligible.

- Compliance with UKRI’s guidance on the use of animals in research is mandatory where relevant.