Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI Systems 2026
UK SMEs can apply for a share of £1.66 million to test new reusable AI mechanisms. Closes 18 November 2026.
Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI Systems is an Innovate UK competition for UK SMEs. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £1.66 million in industrial research on reusable AI mechanisms. The work should produce experimental evidence for a new architecture, learning process, representation or control mechanism that could sit under later AI systems.
Project costs must be between £50,000 and £150,000. A project lasts one to three months, must start by 1 April 2027 and must end by 30 June 2027. For industrial research, a micro or small organisation can get up to 70 percent of eligible costs, and a medium sized organisation up to 60 percent. Projects start at technology readiness level 1, 2 or 3 and should advance by about half a level to one level. The lead must be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise. Subcontractors are not allowed, and one organisation can lead only one application.
The brief is aimed at research intensive AI startups, deep tech SMEs, university spinouts and pre commercial companies that build their own AI technology. A proposal must focus on at least one theme: resource and data adaptive learning, causal and intervention grounded models, learned modular computation and routing, or geometric, equivariant and physics structured learning. If an existing frontier model is used, the application must show a technical advance that still matters above that base model.
The competition opened on 12 October 2026 and closes at 11:00am UK time on 18 November 2026. Applicants are notified on 20 January 2027. Apply on the Innovation Funding Service. At the end of the project the team submits a technical white paper with results against named baselines, ablation evidence and a plan for further development. A second phase is possible, but no funding is set aside for it yet.
Quick answers
Can a company lead more than one application?
No. An eligible organisation can lead only one application. Any further application with the same lead is ineligible.
Are subcontractors allowed?
No. Subcontractors are not allowed in this competition.
Is there a second phase?
A second phase might follow if the business case is approved. No funding is allocated for phase 2 yet, and Innovate UK will say if it opens.