Introducing our R&D Creators + a deep dive on Scaling Compute
Meet our Creators pushing the edge of the possible in computing, AI safety, and climate measurement.
What’s new at ARIA…
We've now awarded funding for over 50 projects across our programmes and opportunity seeds. Meet the R&D Creators for our Scaling Compute programme, Safeguarded AI programme, + Scoping Our Planet opportunity space below.
In a companion piece to this Substack, we take a deeper look at the Creators who will be driving our Scaling Compute programme. Check it out here.
We’ve introduced our initial set of 9 Activation Partners who will drive new entrepreneurial talent, resources, and institutions into our opportunity spaces across the UK. Learn more about this new element of our model here.
ICYMI, in the spirit of building in public, we invited Matt Reynolds from WIRED Magazine to have full access to ARIA. You can read his in-depth feature here. Our PDs also offered insights about their work for Nature Magazine here.
What is an ARIA Creator?
Creators are the bold researchers we fund and support. They sit at the heart of our mission, driving ARIA-funded research to turn ambitious ideas into reality:
They pursue breakthroughs across our programmes and seeds. Within our multi-year programmes, Creators are part of a coordinated portfolio of projects working in tandem to drive breakthroughs. Those with seed funding pursue ‘big-if-true’ ideas in an opportunity space, leveraging our support and community but with less structure and a leaner budget.
They span industries, roles, and geographies. Creators can be entrepreneurs, students, seasoned academics or something else entirely. They can receive funding as a team, company or an individual.
Collaboration is central to their approach. Creators will attend regular in-person events, where they can exchange updates, ideas, and feedback on the best paths forward.
They work closely with the ARIA team. This offers a chance to review progress, discuss whether the initial project goals and milestones remain realistic, and decide whether it’s necessary to change course or pivot.
“On the one hand we’re forced to think very bold – blue sky thinking. But at the same time, it's a community effort. So it collects a whole set of different researchers who all want to do this crazy bold thing.”
- Marian Verhelst, Creator for Scaling Compute
Introducing our Creators
Scaling Compute
Today, we’re delighted to introduce the 12 teams of Creators selected for ARIA’s Scaling Compute programme. Backed by nearly £50 million, these teams are set to challenge the current computing paradigm — from scaling new learning algorithms to developing cutting-edge simulation platforms — all with one bold goal: reducing AI hardware costs by over 1000x.
Training large AI models requires industrial-scale computing power, and consumes massive capital and energy resources. This limits who can build AI and means countless innovative ideas remain unexplored because of prohibitive infrastructure costs.
But what if we could galvanise a community of researchers to fundamentally rethink how AI learns?
As PD Suraj Bramahavar explains, “The way the human brain learns is more efficient than the way computers learn by a factor of a million. We’re seeking to uncover new technological pathways that can bridge this massive gap.”
The Scaling Compute programme brings together a wide-ranging group of experts in AI systems, mixed-signal CMOS circuits, and advanced networking to pursue this vision. As well as uniting leading experts from around the country, the programme has attracted ambitious international organisations, who will be expanding their technical operations and teams in the UK.
Together, these Creators will work to push the boundaries of what’s possible in computing, opening up new avenues to scale the AI industry.
Learn more about the Scaling Compute programme + the Creators looking to redefine our current compute paradigm here.
Alongside our Scaling Compute programme, we’ve recently also introduced our Creators for:
Safeguarded AI
⚒️ Programme funding: Technical Area 1.1 of Safeguarded AI.
We’re funding 22 teams to set the critical mathematical foundations underpinning the entire Safeguarded AI programme.
Together, this group will focus on developing a language that human domain experts, supported by AI systems, can use to specify, verify, and control the behaviour of AI systems against formal requirements in uncertain environments.
In addition to activating top talent from across the UK, this group includes expertise from prestigious institutions in Tallinn, Pisa, and Berkeley.
We’re already excited by the momentum we’ve seen, as our funding has prompted Topos Institute to establish a UK office and the launch of a new non-profit research institute, GLAIVE, in Glasgow.
Find out more: https://www.aria.org.uk/safeguarded-ai-creators/
Scoping Our Planet
🌎 Opportunity seed funding: Scoping Our Planet.
We’re funding 11 projects which look at how we can fill the gaps in Earth system measurement to confidently respond to the climate crisis.
They are chasing breakthroughs ranging from a low-cost solution to measure methane gas concentrations, to a new understanding of the role of ocean mixing on Antarctic ice melt and sea level rise.
The group spans researchers with a wide range of backgrounds – from major universities across the UK, companies like Voltitude, and major institutions such as the National Oceanography Centre and the British Antarctic Survey.
Seed funding is enabling one creator, Dr Jacqueline Campbell, to start Asterisk Labs – the UK’s first worker-owned cooperative research laboratory, whose ARIA project will focus on unlocking new cloud imaging insights for climate monitoring.
Find out more: https://www.aria.org.uk/scoping-our-planet-creators/
Being selected has allowed us to start a mission-driven, not-for-profit research organisation, operating in a way that’s entirely different from what would’ve been possible in a traditional academic or industry setting.”
- Jacqueline Campbell, Creator for Scoping our Planet