BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst: AI for Operational Systems
Description Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £5 million in BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst Phase 1. Across all three phases of the BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst programme, Innovate UK expects to make up to £52 million available. Funding for this phase and subsequent phases is subjec
- Funding
- See official notice
- Deadline
- December 9, 2026
- Status
- OPEN
- Category
- Small Business & Startups
- Opens
- October 22, 2026
- Directory link check
- October 24, 2026
About this opportunity
Description Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £5 million in BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst Phase 1. Across all three phases of the BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst programme, Innovate UK expects to make up to £52 million available. Funding for this phase and subsequent phases is subject to Full Business Case approval by UKRI and a sufficient number of high quality applications. BridgeAI aims to accelerate the deployment of advanced UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) solutions across key growth sectors in the Industrial Strategy . It will support high potential UK AI micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) to move beyond pilots into trusted, real world deployment, while generating evidence and learning that can support wider commercial adoption. The overall aim of this competition is to fund the development of innovative AI deployment use cases that can progress through later programme stages towards deployment and replication. For this phase, we will fund consortia that will undertake and complete the following activities during the project: develop a clear, evidence based deployment use case that articulates the value to the deployer explain how the system will be used and demonstrate why this solution is the most effective way to address the operational challenge assess the readiness of the AI supplier in terms of delivery capacity, standards, regulatory compliance, and technical maturity assess the readiness of the deployer in terms of operational, technical, governance, assurance, and regulatory considerations obtain letters of support from potential deployers that are not part of the initial consortium but may wish to participate in later phases of the programme outline the activities you would undertake, if invited to Phase 2, to assure the AI system for the intended use case and prepare the operational site for deployment organise a demonstration of the solution using representative deployer data and systems within a representative operational environment this should take place towards the end of the project Your project must be led by a UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) that has developed an AI or ML solution relevant to the deployer’s operational context. The solution must have a functioning minimum viable product and evidence of development beyond concept stage. It may have been piloted, trialled or commercially used, but must not already be in widespread commercial deployment for the proposed use case. The project must address significant unresolved deployment challenges and go beyond routine implementation, configuration or customer delivery. Your project must include one eligible UK registered deployer organisation that will provide access to the operational setting, users, data, workflows, systems or processes needed to assess the solution’s readiness for deployment. BridgeAI is funding advanced AI deployment across three strands: AI for Decision Critical Systems AI for Operational Systems (this competition) AI for Assurance and Compliance Systems The Decision Critical Systems strand supports the deployment of AI systems whose primary purpose is to help people make consequential judgements, recommendations or decisions. These decisions must be considered high risk or could have significant consequences for the deployer or its end users. The Operational Systems strand (this competition) supports AI systems whose primary purpose is to perform, control or coordinate operational activity within workflows, processes, software, equipment or infrastructure. Reliable integration and performance must be important to the deployer’s operations. The Assurance and Compliance Systems strand supports AI systems whose primary purpose is to monitor, test, verify, validate or evidence compliance. This includes assessing whether systems, processes or outcomes meet defined regulatory requirements, standards or controls for its intended use. Lead applicants must apply to one strand based on the primary purpose of the AI system within the proposed deployment context. Funding and support are the same across all three strands. 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. This is phase 1 of a potential 3 phase competition. At the end of Phase 1, Innovate UK will review each project to decide whether it will be invited to apply for Phase 2. The review will consider: whether the project has been delivered against its agreed scope, milestones, timescales and costs the level of engagement and commitment from the project partners, including the AI supplier and deployer whether the project has engaged with Innovate UK, monitoring services and programme delivery partners, including required reporting and assessment activities Innovate UK will use project monitoring information and input from strategic delivery partners to inform this decision. Any applicant that is not invited to apply for Phase 2 will be provided with the reasons for the decision. Phase 2 will focus on deployment preparation and is expected to last approximately six months. It will support solution refinement, integration planning, operational readiness and the development of assurance evidence. The indicative maximum grant funding request will be £1 million per consortium. Phase 3 will support live deployment with the initial deployer and replication across two additional organisations. It is expected to last approximately 22 months, with indicative funding of up to £2 million per consortium. Both phases are expected to require co-investment from participating consortium members, with Phase 3 requiring committed co-investment from UK based investors. These durations, funding levels and co-investment requirements are indicative only and do not represent a commitment by Innovate UK. Successful projects will be expected to engage with Innovate UK and its strategic delivery partners throughout the project. This will include participation in support activities, programme monitoring and evaluation, activities to understand deployment readiness, and activities to capture project learning. Innovate UK and its strategic delivery partners may use agreed non-confidential information and learning from funded projects to develop case studies, guidance and other ecosystem facing materials. Any wider use of project information will be agreed with the AI SME and deployer organisation and will take account of commercial confidentiality, intellectual property and sensitive operational information. 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. 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. Project size Your project’s total eligible grant funding request must be between £100,000 and £200,000. 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).
Eligibility recorded
Your project Who can apply Your project Your project must: have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £200,000 last between three and five months start by 1 April 2027 end by 31 August 2027 The minimum consortium size for this competition is two organisations: one UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) and one eligible UK registered deployer. You may include no more than one additional organisation, giving a maximum consortium size of three. For subsequent programme phases, the lead organisation must remain the same throughout. If the deployer organisation drops out, you must provide a replacement. Applicants must provide evidence demonstrating why the new deployer can deliver a similar deployment outcome to that originally intended. Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within 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 . Lead organisation To lead a collaborative project, your organisation must be a UK registered SME. You must: have an existing Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) solution at technology readiness level (TRL) 5 or 6, with a functioning minimum viable product demonstrate an innovative and substantive use of advanced AI or ML capability have a minimum viable product that may have been piloted or trialled, but is not already commercially deployed in the proposed use case intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK be willing to participate in subsequent programme stages if invited The lead organisation must account for between 40% to 70% of the project’s total eligible costs. More information on the different types of organisations can be found in our Funding rules . Academic institutions cannot lead. Deployer organisation Your project must include one UK registered deployer organisation. The deployer organisation must: be a UK registered medium or large business or a UK based public sector organisation operate in an eligible sectoral focus area provide a meaningful operational setting for the proposed deployment account for between 30% and 50% of the project’s total eligible costs For more information on company sizes, refer to the company accounts guidance . The deployer will be expected to: work with the lead applicant to develop the deployment use case and assess readiness for future deployment provide access to the relevant users, data, workflows, systems, processes or operational environment needed for the project contribute to identifying technical, operational, commercial, governance and assurance requirements be willing to participate in subsequent programme stages if invited The deployer must operate in one of these sectors: Health and life sciences Financial services Advanced manufacturing Clean energy industries Defence Professional and business services Creative industries These sectors are defined in line with the UK Industrial Strategy 2025 . You should review the relevant sector definition before applying. Innovate UK will assess whether the proposed deployment falls within scope. Project team To collaborate with the lead and deployer organisation, your organisation must be a UK-registered: business of any size academic institution research organisation research and technology organisation (RTO) charity not for profit public sector organisation non-governmental organisation (NGO) Your consortium can include no more than one additional project partner, which must account for no more than 30% of the project’s total eligible costs. Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) 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 IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs and completing their Project Impact questions in the application. To be an eligible collaboration you must explain why you’re collaborating and how the collaboration will work Non-funded partners Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK. Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs. Subcontractors Subcontractors are not allowed in this competition. Number of applications If the lead applicant, a UK registered SME can only lead on one application and cannot collaborate on any further applications across the three strands. Any further applications by the same organisation as lead will be made ineligible. A UK registered deployer organisation can be involved in up to three applications across three strands, where each application is materially different and relates to a distinct deployment use case. If an organisation is neither the lead SME nor the deployer organisation, it can collaborate in any number of applications across three strands. Sanctions 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. Previous 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 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 . 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. Further Information 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. Funding Up to £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. Under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Route rules, no more than £3 million can be awarded in the form of a grant to any one enterprise in any one competition. 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. Category 1: Feasibility studies Funding available 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 more information on company sizes, refer to the company accounts guidance . If you are applying
Recorded geography: United Kingdom
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