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Innovate UK invites applications for its emerging and enabling technologies competition – strand 2. This supports innovation projects that inspire new products and services. The aim is to help UK businesses broaden their innovation activities, disrupt existing markets and find new revenue sources. Projects must show innovation in one of the following priority areas:

•emerging technologies;

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•enabling capabilities, including electronics, sensors and photonics, robotics and autonomous systems, creative economy and design;

•space applications.

UK-based businesses, academic, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisations may apply, and the project work must be carried out in UK. All projects must involve an SME and projects worth less than £100,000 must be led by an SME.

The total budget is worth up to £9.5 million. Grants are worth between £35,000 and £2m each for a period of three months to three years. Small businesses may receive up to 70 per cent of the total eligible costs, medium-sized businesses may receive up to 60 per cent and large businesses may receive up to 50 per cent for feasibility studies and industrial research projects. Small businesses may receive up to 45 per cent of the total eligible costs, medium-sized businesses may receive up to 35 per cent and large businesses may receive up to 25 per cent for experimental development projects which are nearer to market.

ERA-Net IraSME invites proposals for its transnational call. This supports international research, technology, development and innovation projects between research and technology organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises. The objective is to strengthen the competitive capacity of SMEs by:

•increasing collaboration between SMEs from different countries;

•increasing cooperation between SMEs and RTOs;

•increasing cooperative and competitive capability of SMEs to work in international R&D networks;

•helping them to develop new products, processes or technical services that exceed the existing state of the art and have good market opportunities by lowering the economical risks.

Proposals must involve at least two SMEs from two different countries or regions. A minimum of 50 per cent of the work in the complete projects have to be performed by companies. Partners from other countries than the ones included in the call may participate as long as they can secure their own funding. All applicants must comply with national eligibility criteria.

Projects may last between 12 and 36 months. Start date of projects should be approximately six months after call deadline.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, in collaboration with Research Councils UK and Innovate UK invite applications for its centres for doctoral training in artificial intelligence. This scheme funds the establishment of centres for doctoral training that support the development of skills in:

•those with a background in AI and related disciplines, to apply their skills to a wide range of disciplines and challenges;

•those from different disciplinary backgrounds, where AI could make a transformational contribution to that discipline or where that discipline could be brought to bear on the development of AI technology and approaches.

The proposed centres for doctoral training must focus primarily on the vision and training needs described within the applications and implications of AI or enabling intelligence priority areas. Proposals are invited from applicants working in areas across the remit of all seven research councils addressing UK training needs in the development, applications and implications of novel and existing AI technologies.