Since its launch two weeks ago, over 700 British companies have applied to the @UKSovereignAI procurement scheme - a scheme we designed to remove as many of the blockers start-ups face when bidding on Government contracts as possible. To get a sense of the interest we have had, we hit the hard cap of 1000 attendees for the launch webinar - Brits want to build! Responses on eligibility will be sent out this week, and invites to bid on the challenges covering AI security, compute efficiency and better health services, will arrive soon too. Of course we are still a very small team at SovAI, and we only have 4 bids open ( but hope to have many more live by end of year! ), so naturally we will have to turn many applicants down. I know this will be disappointing, our decision making will not be perfect and it's a difficult process, thank you to everyone for bidding. And as a reminder, I personally do not see any applications and have no role in the decision process, that is led by our expert IC and mission champions, so while I appreciate the many reach-outs I really can do nothing to help specific companies. SovAI are working with other Departments to share what we've learned from this process to fix our procurement system, and will be launching more requests for cheaper, better and more innovative services for Government in the coming months.

One of the great challenges for British start-ups has been selling to our own Government - until now. Gov procurement has often discriminated against innovative new British companies. @UKSovereignAI has set out to change that, and after a lot of work, we've just launched our rapid procurement scheme - the first of its kind in the UK. This is £100M of contracts for British AI companies to deliver services to make our public services cheaper and more efficient. This scheme is designed around the needs of start-ups: No turnover minimums. Departmental champions from day 1. Upfront payments. Streamlined applications. You keep your IP. We are launching with four initial schemes, with more to come later this year. These are: - Providing AI for a more productive NHS - Integrating AI across Defence environments - Making public compute more efficient - Safe adoption of AI agents. If you think you might bid for one of these, you can first check your eligibility and learn more about the schemes on the website below