Innovate UK is offering grants of up to £200,000 to UK AI SMEs that want to take an AI compliance or assurance tool out of the pilot stage and into a real deployment with a larger partner.
BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst: AI for Assurance and Compliance is the first phase of a three-phase programme. Innovate UK has £5 million for this phase and expects to make up to £52 million available across all three, subject to UKRI approval. Projects that deliver well can be invited to apply for up to £1 million in Phase 2 and up to £2 million in Phase 3.
This strand is for AI whose main job is to monitor, test, verify, validate or evidence compliance with regulations, standards or controls. Two sister strands cover decision critical systems and operational systems, and you can only apply to one of the three.
Below, I have explained the key things you need to know about this competition before you apply: who is eligible, how much funding is on the table, and what the application process looks like.
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Who is Eligible?
Your Organisation
To lead a project, you must be a UK-registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) with an existing AI or machine learning solution at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or 6. Your solution needs a working minimum viable product. It can have been piloted or trialled, but it can't already be commercially deployed for the use case you're proposing.
SMEs can't apply alone. You must lead a collaborative project with one eligible deployer organisation, and you can add one more partner, so every consortium has two or three members.
As the lead, you must account for between 40% and 70% of total eligible project costs. You can only lead one application across all three BridgeAI strands, and you can't join any others as a partner.
Your deployer is the organisation that will adopt and use your AI. It must:
- Account for between 30% and 50% of total eligible project costs
- Be a UK-registered medium or large business, or a UK-based public sector organisation
- Operate in an eligible sector
- Provide a real operational setting, with access to the users, data, systems and workflows the project needs
The eligible deployer sectors are:
- Advanced manufacturing
- Clean energy industries
- Creative industries
- Defence
- Financial services
- Health and life sciences
- Professional and business services
Your optional third partner can take up to 30% of total eligible project costs. The following UK-registered organisations can join as collaborators:
- Academic institutions
- Businesses of any size
- Charities
- Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- Not-for-profits
- Public sector organisations
- Research and technology organisations (RTOs)
- Research organisations
Subcontractors aren't allowed in this competition.
Your Project
Your project must:
- Have a total grant request of between £100,000 and £200,000
- Last between three and five months
- Start by 1 April 2027 and end by 31 August 2027
All funded work must be carried out in the UK, and you must intend to exploit the project results from or within the UK.
Your project must also:
- Assess how ready you and your deployer are for deployment, covering technical maturity, governance, assurance and regulation
- Build an evidence-based use case that shows the value to your deployer
- End with a demonstration that uses representative deployer data and systems in a representative operational setting
- Gain letters of support from other potential deployers who could join later phases
- Go beyond routine implementation, configuration or integration of an existing AI service
- Have AI at the centre of the deployment, with the primary purpose of monitoring, testing, verifying, validating or evidencing compliance
- Set out the assurance and site preparation work you'd do if invited to Phase 2
Innovate UK won't fund projects that:
- Focus on early-stage research or concept development
- Focus on generic productivity tools, back-office automation or routine business process improvement
- Use AI in a way that's peripheral to the deployer's core operations
How Much Funding Can I Apply For?
The amount you can claim depends on your organisation's type and size and the sort of research your project involves.
Individual grants range from £100,000 to £200,000.
Applying as a Company
| Project Type | Micro and Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of Costs Covered* | 70% | 60% | 50% |
*This competition funds feasibility studies. These weigh up a project's strengths, weaknesses and chances of success to help you decide whether to take it forward.
Funding Example
If you're a small AI company with £150,000 of eligible project costs, you could receive a grant of £105,000. You will need to fund the remaining £45,000 from other sources, like R&D Tax Relief, investment or loans.
Applying as a Non-Commercial Organisation
Research organisations doing non-economic work can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs and are funded at higher rates:
- Up to 100% of eligible costs if you are a charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation, research organisation, or RTO
- Up to 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you're an academic institution, like a university
How Do I Apply?
The deadline for applications is 8 December 2026.
Applications are submitted via Innovate UK's Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal.
The application is split into four sections:
Project Details
This section isn't scored, but it gives the assessors background on your project. It covers:
- Application details, like your project title, start date and duration
- Application team
- Project summary
- Public description
- Research category
- Scope
Most answers in this section are limited to 400 words, with up to 800 words for the scope question. If your scope answer doesn't show that your project fits this strand, it won't be sent for assessment.
Application Questions
There are 19 questions in total:
- Nine unscored questions covering topics like applicant location, animal testing, international collaboration, trusted research, your sector and who your AI supplier and deployer are
- Ten scored questions covering market size, real-world benefits, innovation readiness, route to deployment, skills, deployer readiness, learning, risks, milestones and delivery
You must also upload a technical architecture diagram (a PDF of up to two A4 pages) with the innovation readiness question.
Finances
Each organisation in your consortium enters its own project costs, organisation details and funding details.
Project Impact
This section isn't scored, but every partner must complete it before you can submit.
Your application will be reviewed by three independent assessors. Their individual scores will be combined to determine your final result.
If you're successful, you'll be notified by 1 February 2027.
Like with most competitions, Innovate UK takes a 'portfolio approach' by funding projects across different technologies, markets and technological maturities. This means that a strong score won't necessarily guarantee that your application will be successful.
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