Funding competition from Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) & ARIA Scaling Inference Lab (SIL)
Sovereign AI R&D Procurement: Increase compute efficiency
- Opening soon
- Businesses can apply
- UK-registered applicants
- SMEs only
- Funder
- Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) & ARIA Scaling Inference Lab (SIL)
- Kind
- Funding competition
- Each contract
- Up to £10 million
- Opens
- 14 November 2026in 2 weeks
- Next deadline
- 17 December 2026in 7 weeks
What it funds
Drive efficiency and effectiveness in public compute infrastructure, to help deliver expansion of the AI Research Resource (AIRR), through trialling and deploying novel hardware or software supporting compute efficiency and heterogeneous systems development. Challenge owner: Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) & ARIA Scaling Inference Lab (SIL). Sovereign AI R&D Procurement Scheme. Contracts of £250,000 to £10 million, most around £1 million to £3 million; suppliers keep their IP. For UK-registered startups and SMEs only. Batch 2 opens 14 November 2026; submit proposals by 31 December 2026 (outcome 29 January 2027). Join the Approved Supplier List first: send the expression of interest by 17 December 2026, two weeks before the deadline. Not on Find a Tender: the scheme uses the R&D exemption in the Procurement Act 2023.
From the Sovereign AI Fund listing.
Who can apply
- Applicants must be registered in the UK.
- Small and medium-sized businesses only.
Key dates
- Opens14 November 2026in 2 weeks
- Expression of interest by17 December 2026in 7 weeks
- Batch 2 closes31 December 2026in 2 months
Dates as the Sovereign AI Fund listing gives them. Relative dates count from 26 October 2026.
All open funding competitions and grants · Tender Radar first saw this call on 24 October 2026 and last read its listing on 25 October 2026. Page as of 26 October 2026.