Innovate UK, Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI Systems, "4% chance of success"
"Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have 4% chance of success." That sentence is on the Innovate UK page for Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI Systems. The competition funds up to GBP 1.66 million in total, and applications close on 18 November at 11:00am UK time.
It is a grant for UK-registered micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, aimed at research-intensive AI startups, deep tech SMEs and university spinouts. Phase 1 only: "There is no funding currently allocated for Phase 2."
- Project: total costs of GBP 50,000 to 150,000, lasting 1 to 3 months, starting on the first of a month by 1 April 2027 and ending by 30 June 2027. Projects must start at TRL 1 to 3 and advance by 0.5 to 1 TRL.
- Grant rate: up to 70% of eligible costs for micro and small companies and up to 60% for medium ones. Our arithmetic: 70% of GBP 150,000 is GBP 105,000, so the company covers at least GBP 45,000 of a maximum-size project.
- Scope: the principal technical advance must come from one of six mechanism types, such as a new learning mechanism, a learned causal model or a mechanism that controls an agent, within four themes. Deliverables include a prototype, results against named baselines, ablation evidence and a technical whitepaper. Literature reviews, routine integration and prompt engineering are excluded.
- Assessment: three independent assessors, ten scored questions, each marked 1 to 10. The team question is capped at 5 if a CV is missing. Applicants are notified on 20 January 2027.
- Rules: one application per organisation, no subcontractors, work and exploitation in the UK.
Who pays: Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, as a grant under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme. The GBP 1.66 million is "subject to" enough high quality applications, so it is a stated maximum.
Track record: none published. The 4% is the only success figure, and the page does not say how it was reached or how many projects will be funded. Our arithmetic: GBP 1.66 million is at most 15 grants of GBP 105,000, or about 47 at the minimum project size of GBP 50,000 with a 70% grant.
Not published: the number of projects, the score needed for funding, and the applicant count behind the 4%.