The Government has launched the first public service procurement competitions under its £100 million Sovereign AI R&D Procurement Scheme.
The scheme was announced by Chancellor John Healey at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in North Carolina.
It seeks to back innovative British AI companies to develop solutions to some of the UK’s biggest challenges, from boosting NHS productivity and strengthening national security to improving cyber resilience and expanding the computing infrastructure that will power future growth.
“Britain is home to some of the most innovative AI companies in the world, and this government is backing them to start, scale and succeed here in the UK,” said Healey.
“This first-of-its-kind competition will help make sure more of the benefits of AI are felt in every UK postcode.
“As G20 countries seek to make the most of AI opportunities, I’m determined Britain has a lead role in harnessing this technology to drive more jobs, better public services, and growth that’s UK-wide.”
Successful firms will work with government departments to develop demonstrator-stage technologies with the potential to scale across the public sector and beyond.
AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said: “When we said that Sovereign AI would put the heft of a nation behind Britain’s AI founders, we meant it.
“Every year the British state spends billions procuring products and solutions tackling some of the most important challenges facing society – from health, to our national defence.
“This first-of-its-kind scheme will open up these opportunities to the British AI innovators whose ideas could make the biggest difference, backing their businesses to grow here, and go on to win globally.”
The Government has also established the AI Economics Institute, a world-first. This will seek to strengthen understanding of AI’s economic impacts, helping ensure policymakers have the evidence needed to maximise AI’s opportunities and respond to its challenges.
The Chancellor has confirmed that the UK now plans to open up AIEI to international cooperation with G7 countries, focused on information and evidence sharing.
The first four competitions launched are below.
NHS productivity challenge
Working with the Department of Health and Social Care, firms will develop AI systems that can automate workflows, coordinate care and support decision-making across health services, helping deliver the ambitions of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan while improving productivity and staff experience.
Driving compute efficiency
Led by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and ARIA’s Scaling Inference Lab, this challenge will support technologies that improve the efficiency of AI computing infrastructure, helping deliver the Government’s ambition to significantly expand the UK’s public AI compute capacity while reducing costs for researchers and businesses.
Integrate AI at pace across Defence mission environments
Working with the Ministry of Defence, firms will develop solutions that securely connect data and frontier AI capabilities across defence systems, strengthening operational effectiveness and supporting sovereign national security capabilities.
Agent security and resilience testing
In partnership with the National Cyber Security Centre, this challenge will support technologies that help organisations understand, manage and mitigate the risks associated with increasingly capable AI agents, helping unlock the safe adoption of AI across the economy.