We are opening a call for applications to a £100,000 grant fund to find and support innovative projects that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for social good.

The winners will be profiled across Nesta’s channels, local and national media and will each receive between £15,000-£20,000 prize fund to support their work.

Nesta will provide a curated programme of site visits and events to expose them to a range of industries and will support the initiatives throughout the programme to amplify their work.

We will publish our AI for Good report in Autumn 2020 with contributions from the projects alongside industry experts.

We want to demystify Artificial Intelligence and open up the public discourse around the positive, ethical uses that can have a positive impact on people’s lives.

AI has enormous potential to transform the way that systems and services are provided across all areas of society, such as; local and national government, science, health, education, arts, climate action, transport, manufacturing, emergency services, academia and research.

Much of the public discourse about AI to date has focused on the benefits for the private sector. We want to change that, raising the profile of AI innovators helping improve social outcomes in communities across Scotland. If AI is to be used as a tool to improve our society, there must be focus on the intended and unintended impact on users, on addressing inequalities and not exacerbating them, on making technology that is open and accessible and to not entrench bias and discrimination within the technologies we create.

Nesta has been interested in Artificial Intelligence for some time and our previous work such as our explainer on Artificial Intelligence and our economics of Artificial Intelligence today helps policymakers and economists to navigate the impact of digitalisation and understand their potential to influence it.

More recently we have published our Educ-AI-tion rebooted? report, looking at the potential of AI tools in schools and colleges, We have explored how the future of skills will be affected by AI and automation. Through our Centre for Collective Intelligence Design we have gathered together AI and Collective Intelligence case studies to demonstrate how AI can help large groups to think together rather than providing an alternative to them.

Now we want to be able to demonstrate how AI can be used for real social impact in Scotland by supporting, profiling and amplifying the people and the projects that are doing it.

• We are interested in a broad cross-section of individuals, themes and uses of Artificial Intelligence
• We encourage applications from all sizes and forms of organisation, including; students, academics, start-ups, SMEs, public, private and third sector bodies who are applying AI to improve social outcomes.
• Working in areas such as; health, wellbeing, poverty, homelessness, inequality, education, creative industries, government, climate action, transport, manufacturing, emergency services, academia and research.

The assessment of ‘AI for Good’ takes in considerations across several factors:

• Is the problem a worthy social issue that needs new approaches?
• Is the proposed AI solution an appropriate way to address it?
• Is the proposed AI solution taking a new, ambitious or innovative approach?
• Does the team behind the idea have the right skills, motivations and ambition to realise the solution?
• Have fair considerations been made to address issues of bias, discrimnation, diversity and misuse?

• Entries from organisations of all sizes and sectors will be considered, including; students, academics, start-ups, SMEs, public, private and third sector
• The project, research or initiative must be more than a concept or a research question - but does not need to be complete or fully demonstrable
• Entries must be able to articulate how their idea contributes to ‘social good’
• All entries must be based in the UK and have activity in Scotland
• All entries should have a strong emphasis on the societal impact of their work

• Information webinar 1: 5th December 12:00 pm
• Information webinar 2: 17th December 2:30 pm
• Applications Open: Monday 25th November 2019
• Applications Close: Friday 10th January 2020, 12 pm.
• Shortlist selected and informed by: Thursday 16th January 2020
• Judging Panel sits: Thursday 23rd January 2020
• Winners informed by: Monday 3rd February 2020
• Programme begins: March 2020
• Programme ends: September 2020

Applications to this fund are now closed.

Please contact [email protected] and someone from the team will get back to you.

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