TechLocal: AI Professional Practice Degree and Graduate Traineeship Accelerator

Project lead

UK-registered academic institutions are eligible to apply either as sole applicants or as part of a collaborative team to develop new course development and delivery or support local organisations to host students and graduates through graduate traineeships, internships, and live business projects

Project collaboration

A business of any size, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)’ can collaborate on any number of applications under the project leadership of a academic institution

To be eligible to participate, you must:

• Be led by a UK-registered academic institution
• Hold in-house capability to develop new course development and delivery or support local organisations to host students and graduates through graduate traineeships, internships, and live business projects
• Commit to carrying out all participation activities within the UK and intend to exploit the results in or from the UK

Project leadership

This competition is open to single applicants and collaborations.

Lead organisation

To lead a consortium, your organisation must be a UK-registered academic institution. The lead organisation will be the contracting party for any subsequent award.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be a UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

Organisations that are not profit driven or do not have a commercial focus, including Community Interest Companies (CICs) and charities, are not allowed to lead or to participate in this competition.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK.

You must also provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you.

We expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

Number of applications

An academic institution can lead a maximum of two applications and can collaborate in any number of applications.

If an academic institution is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

A business of any size, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO) can collaborate on any number of applications.

A total of up to £7.8 million has been allocated to AI Professional Practice Degree and Graduate Traineeship competition. Grant funding request must be between £100,000 and £300,000 and total project costs will be eligible for up to 100% funding subject to MFA subsidy rules. All applicants must request 100% funding.

The funding will be allocated such that:

• £5 million to new course development and delivery
• £2.8 million to support local organisations to host students and graduates through graduate traineeships, internships, and live business projects

The aim of this competition is to develop Level 6 and Level 7 higher education professional practice courses, graduate traineeships and work experience opportunities in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Projects must be:

• delivered and impact one or more of the specified geographical areas: North West England, South West England, Yorkshire and Humber, North East England, East Midlands, West Midlands, South East England, East of England, London, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
• be clearly focused on Artificial Intelligence technology
• have a real commitment to diversity and inclusion
• not duplicate other TechFirst initiatives
• be delivered with strong levels of employer engagement

Your project must focus on one or more of the following:

• Develop and deliver new or updated Level 6 undergraduate equivalent, and Level 7 masters equivalent AI focused curricula and courses. with integrated professional work practice. This can include the development of multiple modules or an entire course.
• Deliver new partnership mechanisms between educators and employers to support innovation in the local ecosystem and provide opportunities for students and graduates to gain meaningful work experience.
• Deliver a new industry graduate traineeship-style model where graduates work in teams under expert mentorship to deliver AI innovation projects with local businesses, gaining business exposure, industry skills and teamwork experience. Facilitate career acceleration and professionalization of AI-skilled graduates, supporting progression into advanced roles where skills shortages and gaps exist.
• Provide internships, work placements or cooperative education where students work alongside or within local organisations to complete work relevant to their studies in AI.

A briefing webinar will be held on 10 February 2026, 12:00 pm, click here to register for a place.

The briefing recording and slides will be available to download here after the briefing event.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect.

Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.

Our innovation and growth specialists provide our fully funded and bespoke support to clients nationwide. Please visit the service’s website to discover whether you could benefit from this advisory support, which is available to Innovate UK funded and non-funded businesses alike.

• Competition opens: 4 February 2026
• Briefing event: 10 February 2026
• Competition close: 18 March 2026, 11:00 am
• Applicants notified: 27 April 2026
• Project start from: 1 July 2026