Innovate UK

BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst: AI for Decision Critical Systems

Phase 1 of Innovate UK's BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst, for consortia led by a UK AI or machine learning SME with a working product, partnered with a UK deployer that will use it. This strand is for AI systems whose primary purpose is to help people make consequential judgements, recommendations or decisions that are high risk or could have significant consequences for the deployer or its end users. Grants of £100,000 to £200,000 fund three-to-five-month feasibility projects that build an evidence-based deployment use case and end with a demonstration; projects that deliver may be invited to Phase 2 (indicatively up to £1m) and Phase 3 (up to £2m). The three strands share funding and rules, and applying to the wrong strand makes an application ineligible.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £100,000 – £200,000
Deadline: 48 days left; 8 December
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

A consortium of two or three organisations
The lead must be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise with an existing AI or ML solution at technology readiness level 5 or 6 and a functioning minimum viable product that may have been piloted but is not already commercially deployed for the proposed use case; it must account for 40-70% of eligible costs and be willing to continue to later phases
Academic institutions cannot lead
The consortium must include one UK registered deployer: a medium or large business or UK public sector organisation in health and life sciences, financial services, advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, defence, professional and business services, or creative industries, providing a real operational setting and 30-50% of eligible costs
One further UK partner (any business, academic, research organisation, RTO, charity, not-for-profit, public body or NGO) may join, up to 30% of costs
A lead SME can lead only one application across the three strands; a deployer can be in up to three if each is a distinct use case
Grant rates: up to 70% of eligible costs for micro and small organisations, 60% medium, 50% large; research organisations doing non-economic work can get up to 100% (80% of full economic cost for academics), capped at 30% of costs between them
Work must be done and exploited in the UK

What it funds

Feasibility projects in which the consortium will:

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, towards the end of the project

the AI or ML capability must be central to the deployment and go beyond routine configuration, integration or implementation; examples given include agentic and multi-agent systems, multimodal AI, embodied AI and robotics, autonomous systems, foundation and domain-adapted models, graph-based AI, neuro-symbolic AI, advanced computer vision, reinforcement learning, and AI-enabled optimisation and control.

What it will not fund

Early stage research or concept development
Generic productivity tools, back office automation or routine business process improvement
AI used in a way that is peripheral to the deployer's core operations
Projects dependent on export performance or on domestic inputs usage
Subcontractors (not allowed in this competition)

How to apply

Read the guidance on applying through the Innovation Funding Service and the strand's assessor guidance; register for the collaborative event (26 October 2026) and online briefing (27 October 2026) if wanted
The lead SME starts the application on the Innovation Funding Service and invites the deployer and any partner, who enter their own costs and Project Impact answers
Complete project details, application questions (questions 10-19 scored, up to 400 words each, no URLs), finances and Project Impact
Upload a technical architecture diagram (PDF, up to two A4 pages)
Submit by 11am on 8 December 2026

if unsure whether the project is in scope or which strand fits, email BridgeAI@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the close; applications to the wrong strand cannot be transferred and will not be assessed.

Have ready

Technical architecture diagram (PDF, up to two A4 pages, legible at 100% zoom)

projects must last three to five months, start on the first of a month by 1 April 2027 and end by 31 August 2027.

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