Responsible Ai UK Awards over £300,000 to Enterprise Fellows to Advance Responsible AI Innovation
Responsible Ai UK (RAi UK) has awarded over £300,000 in funding to Enterprise Fellows, accelerating the transformation of cutting-edge research into real-world solutions that embed responsibility and trustworthiness in AI deployment. This initiative is a key component of RAi UK’s mission to maximize the impact of responsible AI research across the economy, society, culture, policy, health, the environment, and quality of life.
Professor Gopal Ramchurn, RAi UK CEO, Professor of Artificial Intelligence from the University of Southampton said:
“The RAi UK Enterprise Fellowships represent our commitment to transforming groundbreaking research into tangible solutions that address real-world challenges while demonstrating a responsible approach to deploying AI. Researchers are rarely encouraged to become entrepreneurs, and this is our first step in changing that mindset. By supporting these visionary researchers, we’re not just funding projects, but fostering an AI ecosystem that prioritizes ethics, accountability, and societal impact. We are extremely grateful to the Royal Academy of Engineering for supporting this initiative. .”
Empowering Innovation: RAi UK Enterprise Fellowships
The Enterprise Fellowship funding call, launched in November 2024, invited proposals for commercializing AI-driven products or services that ensure AI is deployed in a responsible and ethical manner. This 12-18month accelerator programme provides equity-free funding and is designed to support university-based researchers with entrepreneurial ambitions. In addition, collaborating with the Royal Academy of Engineering, RAi UK will provide space to collaborate, mentorship, research visitor status, cohort experience & access to expert networks.
Enterprise Fellows will refine their value proposition, develop business plans, seek mentorship, and secure long-term investment to scale their innovations into viable spin-outs.
- BrainHealthX: Responsible AI-guided solution for early dementia prediction
BrainHealthX, led by Professor Zoe Kourtzi at University of Cambridge, this RAi Enterprise Fellowship aims to scale-up BHx into a trusted, fully deployable clinical decision support system to help identify who will benefit when from which intervention, ultimately driving precision interventions and new treatments.
Professor Zoe Kourtzi said:
“I am delighted to join RAi as a Enterprise Fellow and look forward to working with scientists and entrepreneurs to advance responsible AI tools and practices for applications in healthcare”.
Dementia is stealing the lives of >55 million people worldwide, with huge societal cost (>$1 trillion p.a.). Despite >$56 billion R&D spend over 30 years, we lack sensitive diagnostics at early stages, when interventions may work best. We co-created—with healthcare partners, clinicians and the public—a responsible, multimodal AI tool (BrainHealthx, BHx) to improve early prediction and patient stratification to optimise interventions for each patient.
- PACER (ProActive Causal ExplaineR)
The aim of the Enterprise Fellowship is to realise a new cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS), called PACER (ProActive Causal ExplaineR), which will leverage and analyse recorded event-data logs to anticipate safety issues, provide causal explanations, improve safety, and enhance the understanding and trust of developers, operators, and/or other stakeholders.
Professor Lars Kunze, Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) at University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol said:
“Unlocking the full potential of AI-enabled systems in society requires more than just data and compute. PACER will make these systems explainable, accountable, and safe – and it will do this at scale.”
Our vision is to make autonomous systems (AS) safe, accountable, and trustworthy. We believe that all AS should be equipped with data recorders (or black-boxes) – like mandatory flight-data recorders in aviation. With industry partners, we have developed and demonstrated such recorders as well as recording standards in a range of applications.
- OPTIcut – AI-Powered Decision Support System for Sustainable Banana Processing
The OPTIcut project, led by Professor David Elizondo, uses computational intelligence to transform banana farming by reducing waste and enhancing sustainability. Professor David Elizondo, De Montfort University (DMU) Leicester said:
“I’m delighted to have the support of RAi UK to take OPTIcut to the next level. This funding is a game-changer for our work to fine-tune the AI technology and make a real difference for banana producers globally.”
Collaborating with CORBANA, the University of Malaga, Jaen University, and De Montfort University, the project focuses on refining segmentation algorithms, automating fruit damage detection, and conducting real-world trials. By embedding Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles, OPTIcut is poised to deliver impactful, scalable solutions for sustainable agriculture, fostering equitable growth and advancing the circular economy in banana-producing regions.
Looking Ahead
With the Enterprise Fellowship programme, RAi UK is building the next generation of AI leaders who will drive responsible AI innovation across key sectors. By fostering collaboration and supporting ambitious researchers, this initiative is a crucial step toward ensuring AI delivers benefits for all.
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NOTES TO EDITOR
About Responsible AI UK (RAi UK)
With a £35 million UKRI investment, RAi UK is a program dedicated to delivering interdisciplinary research and fostering an international ecosystem for Responsible AI research and innovation. Through extensive consultations across the UK, RAi UK has identified emerging challenges in responsible AI and has deployed over £17 million into projects aimed at accelerating the adoption of responsible AI practices and technologies. RAi UK brings research-based expertise that is connective, adaptive, and world-leading through field-building, and engagement with communities, publics, industries, and governments. RAi UK is led from the University of Southampton and backed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the UKRI Technology Missions Fund and EPSRC. For more information or to get involved, please visit rai.ac.uk.
Media Contact:
Kavita Mittal
Communications Manager – RAi UK
K.Mittal@soton.ac.uk