Live seed funding, plants and robots
What’s new at ARIA…
We’re getting ready to launch multiple funding calls across all of our opportunity spaces over the next couple of months, sign up here to be notified as calls go live
Our final opportunity spaces are out now: Programmable Plants and Scoping Our Planet
We’ve published two more programme theses: Safeguarded AI and Robotic Dexterity
We’ve launched opportunity seeds – a new funding mechanism supporting ambitious research projects aligned with our opportunity spaces. Opportunity seeds in Nature Computes Better are live now. Find out what we’re looking for here and apply before the first round of applications closes on 19 Feb
Our CEO Ilan Gur and Programme Director Mark Symes sat down with The Times to chat about plans for Mark’s programme, and why research into weather interventions is critical as we drive towards net zero. Read it here (£)
“We have a united desire to make the funding cycle smoother and faster at every step of the way.”
We recently published our approach to funding, which highlights our key principles, and unpacks what they mean in practice. In our latest Q&A with Antonia Jenkinson, our COO + CFO, we dive deeper into funding at ARIA. Antonia explains how we came up with our approach, and why it sets us up with a strong foundation to move fast and minimise barriers to scale.
Read it here.
A snapshot of our funding principles:
We work to ensure the projects and programmes we fund have the greatest chance of bringing significant public benefit to the UK.
We fund the best people and ideas to get the job done, whoever and wherever they are.
And what this means in practice…
We default to open competitions and solicitations, and base awards on rigorous criteria-based review from multiple experts.
We don’t require match funding and aim to provide full cost recovery in order to maximise the speed and accessibility of our awards.
We don’t retain IP rights to the work we fund nor take equity in resulting spin-outs.
Live opportunity seeds and a programme coming soon…
We’re very excited by all of the proposals that have been submitted for our first opportunity seed call in Nature Computes Better. For anyone who’s not yet applied, there’s still time to do so here.
We’ll also be launching a programme funding opportunity very soon for Unlocking AI compute hardware at 1/1000th the cost. Sign up here to get an update as soon as the funding call goes live.
Help shape our thinking
With all our opportunity spaces and three programme theses now published and ahead of further funding opportunities, we’re looking for feedback: How could we take these ideas further? Are there new avenues we should consider? What else could help unlock new breakthroughs?
As always, we want to hear from you. Read the documents and send us your thoughts.
Programme theses:
🖥️ Suraj: Unlocking AI compute hardware at 1/1000th the cost *funding coming soon*
Can we provide computer architects with the toolkit to realise AI compute hardware at 1/1000th the cost of today’s platforms?
⚒️ davidad: Safeguarded AI: Constructing safety by design
Can we build safety guarantees for AI systems, as we do for critical infrastructure?
🦾 Jenny: Robotic Dexterity – Handling our future
Could a paradigm shift in robotics hardware boost economic productivity + address the labour challenges of tomorrow?
Opportunity spaces:
🌳 Angie: Programmable Plants - A technology platform for sustainable abundance
Can we programme plants to provide low-cost, sustainable resources at scale?
Can we formally verify the safety of advanced AI systems using mathematics and modelling?
🌎 Gemma & Sarah: Scoping Our Planet – A new lens on climate science
Can we harness advances in optics and photonics to improve climate predictions and spot early signs of extreme weather events?
🧠 Jacques: Precisely interfacing with the human brain at scale
Can we build targeted, minimally invasive tools to better understand and treat disorders of the brain?
🤖 Jenny: Smart machines need smarter bodies
Can we improve robotics hardware to unlock the transformative benefits of intelligent machines?
🌡️ Mark: Future-Proofing Our Climate – Managing our climate and weather through responsible engineering
Can we develop a new scientific framework for technologies designed to avoid dangerous climate tipping points and extreme weather events?
🌱 Suraj: Nature Computes Better – Let’s catch up *seed funding live*
Can we redefine the way computers process information by exploiting principles found ubiquitously in nature?
