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1. Summary

Open to UK-registered micro, small and medium organisations, this route supports early-stage development of AI products prior to market launch.

Eligible activities include:

• feasibility studies
• industrial research
• experimental development

For more information, please see the .

Resources available:

Up to 20,000 GPU hours on AIRR services, to be used within 3 months of project start.

Accessibility and inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone.

You can contact us at airr@ukri.org to ask for guidance not addressed in the guidance document.

2. Eligibility

Who can apply

Your organisation must be a UK registered business and have a Companies House registration number.

For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.

There is no limit to the number of applications from any one organisation.

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)

All AIRR access routes provide awards in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the .

EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Lead organisation details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation, including your subsidy history.

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must always make sure that the resources awarded to you are compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.

Project finances

Project applications from non-academic organisations will need to state all eligible project costs. Please remember that no funding is available through this route, only compute resource. The information on project costs is required to ensure awards are made in in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

For an overview on what costs you can include in your project, see . Note this is general guidance. You can also view our .

The AIRR programme would welcome the following project costs as aligning to the policy objectives:

• software development
• staff training related to AI

Support ratios

The balance between your total eligible project costs and the amount of compute resources awarded must be funded by your organisation.

For feasibility studies and industrial research, the maximum percentage of the overall eligible project costs that can be compute resources awarded through this route are:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation

For experimental development, the maximum percentage of the overall eligible project costs that can be compute resources awarded through this route are:

• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation

For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the .

3. Scope

The Rapid Access route is aimed at businesses, in particular startups and SMEs. Small amounts of compute can be secured quickly, with a minimum amount of friction, to allow businesses to conduct research and development activities at short notice and respond rapidly to market opportunities.

This route covers activities that fall into the following categories (see ):

• feasibility studies
• industrial research
• experimental development

4. How to apply

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to ensure that:

• All information provided in the application is accurate
• The proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria for the chosen access route.

Important notes

Self-contained applications only: do not include links to external web resources. Applications containing such links will be deemed ineligible.

Use of generative AI tools: you may use generative AI to help prepare your application. However, please exercise caution and ensure the content remains accurate and appropriate. For more details, refer to the UKRI policy on the .

Application structure

The application consists of the following components:

1. AIRRPortal online form, with 3 sections (not scored by assessors)
   a. Project details (which includes the ‘Upload supporting documentation’ option, where the attachments requested below are to be uploaded)
   b. Resource requests
   c. Project team
   

2. Supporting documentation to be uploaded, templates for both attachments are available on the AIRRPortal call details page
   a. Further project and organisation details, including compliance and project costs and subsidy history (not scored by assessors)
   b. Assessment questions (scored by assessors).

Processing personal data and data sharing

UKRI will need to collect some personal information to manage your application.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our .

UKRI will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) so that they can participate in the assessment process.

For more information on how DSIT uses personal information, visit DSIT Privacy Policy.

5. How your project will be assessed

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

Rapid Access applications will be subject to a light touch review by a member of the UKRI/DSIT Delivery Team. The aim is that this will be done on a monthly cadence, with a maximum time-to-resource-access of 2 months after the date of submission.

The UKRI/DSIT Delivery Team will use the following assessment criteria:

• Are the project objectives in scope for the AIRR programme
• Has the project demonstrated that access to AIRR would add value to the project
• Have any concerns been raised regarding the project compliance information

6. What happens if you receive an award offer

If your project application is successful, UKRI will send the project lead a formal offer letter, which will contain the award Terms and Conditions, any subsidy notice required and a link to the online equality monitoring form.

When you confirm the equality monitoring form has been completed, the project lead will be emailed a project link from the AIRRPortal.

By logging in to the AIRRPortal and accessing the compute resources, you will have accepted the UKRI Terms and Conditions.