UK goes shopping for homegrown AI with £100M procurement scheme
AI AND ML
Startups invited to tackle NHS, defense, compute, and agent security challenges while Whitehall's own adoption remains patchy
The British government has opened the first competitions under a £100 million procurement scheme intended to give domestic AI startups a route into public sector contracts.
Chancellor John Healey announced the initiative at a G20 finance ministers meeting in North Carolina. It invites companies to develop technology addressing challenges including NHS productivity, national security, cyber resilience, and the efficiency of public AI infrastructure.
The government says the scheme will help "strategically important" British AI companies get started, scale up, and "win globally," ensuring that Britain captures more of the economic and technological benefits of artificial intelligence.
The R&D Procurement Scheme forms part of Sovereign AI, the government initiative that also operates a separate £500 million venture fund investing directly in promising British AI startups.
The first four competitions cover NHS...
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