Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA)

What if farmers could detect crop stress before it becomes visible? Mycovolt Technologies is working to decode the electrical signals plants send in response to changes in their environment. With a £2.3m ARIA seed boost, they'll test whether those signals can be captured and categorised at field scale. If successful, this could help growers spot pests, disease, and other threats more quickly, supporting more targeted interventions + reducing unnecessary inputs. Read our Q&A with the team: https://lnkd.in/eS-cx8yq

"It's a very rare position – it's unique in the world – to be able to have no cap on your ambition." Applications to become an ARIA Programme Director close on Monday, 28 September. If you have a vision for how science and technology can change the world, and the conviction to pursue it, we want to hear from you. Don’t miss out – apply now: https://lnkd.in/epqSZihC

We’re hiring for two amazing opportunities in novel compute at ARIA: → Scaling Inference Lab Director — lead the next phase of our effort to turn breakthrough AI hardware into credible, working systems. https://lnkd.in/eTthdXTU → Programme Directors — we’re particularly keen to hear from people with ambitious ideas for what computing ought to become next. https://lnkd.in/eXRidWUk Novel compute is moving incredibly fast. The bottleneck is shifting from inventing better components to proving they can work in complete systems, at meaningful scale, in front of the customers, investors and operators who can help them succeed. That’s what the Scaling Inference Lab is designed to do — and why we’re doubling down. If you want to help build the future of compute, take a look. More on where we think novel compute is heading: https://lnkd.in/edUujYvn

AI-enabled cyber attacks are getting faster + going further. But what if AI-enabled formal methods could make high-assurance cyber defence practical at unprecedented speed and scale? To test that idea, we’re backing eight new research projects with £22m as part of the Safeguarded AI programme, led by Nora Ammann. The projects will target systems where machine-checked correctness would yield outsized, widespread resilience gains, from containing AI agents to protecting the code on millions of Android devices, whilst building durable UK capability at the intersection of formal methods and AI. Six blue teams and one opportunity seed team will build production-grade software and hardware components carrying machine-checked proofs, whilst an independent central red team attempts to break the full assurance case behind their security claims. Success could bring provable security to some of the world's most widely relied-upon software and hardware. Meet the teams: https://lnkd.in/e3fzJb9g

Thank you to everyone who joined us last night to introduce our new Activation Partners. It was brilliant to bring together the people helping ambitious research move from the lab towards real-world use: our new partners, Creators, Programme Directors and colleagues from across the ecosystem. Welcome again to Adaptyv, BioInnovation Institute (BII), Edinburgh Genome Foundry, Newlab and Open Athena. We’re looking forward to what we can make possible together.

Great to see His Majesty visiting Hypanode in Aberdeen, Scotland, and delighted to be funding this strong team. Read more (link in comments) about Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA)’s Enduring Atmospheric Platforms programme - our goal is to develop aircraft that can provide connectivity from the stratosphere.

Earlier today, we announced five new Activation Partners: Adaptyv BioInnovation Institute (BII) Edinburgh Genome Foundry Newlab Open Athena Together, they will bring new AI-enabled research capabilities, engineering infrastructure and translation support into our opportunity spaces, helping ambitious research move faster from idea to real-world capability. Find out more about the new partners and what they will make possible: https://lnkd.in/e-vj8KVa

I am excited to share that BioInnovation Institute (BII) has been selected as an Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) Activation Partner.   ARIA is the UK's boldest science funder, backing ambitious research that others consider too risky or too counterintuitive to touch. From programmable plants to systems-scale medicine, ARIA funds breakthroughs that could redefine what is possible.   BII recently established its UK hub in Victoria House in London to run the CardioMetabolic Bridge initiative. Through the partnership with ARIA, BII will expand the activities in UK at real scale, supporting a broader base of UK researchers and helping more academics make the leap from ideas to fundable companies.   The partnership connects BII into ARIA's exceptional UK network and scientific talent, and lets us work alongside ARIA's dedicated, field-expert Programme Directors in areas that align closely with BII's own strengths, including planetary health, neuroscience and immunology.   Since 2018, BII has helped build more than 160 life-science startups that collectively have raised more than 1.2b EUR. Now we are bringing this experience to the UK to help more brilliant science become the companies of the future. https://lnkd.in/ec9mAC3F Lars Grønlykke Christian RankJohanna Roostalu Trine Bartholdy Markus Herrgård Christian Brix Tillegreen Anne Almind Vind Karolina Zapadka, PhD MBAEleonora LugaràTony Cheng-Fu Chang Jens Nielsen Pui Ling Lau Lasse Juul Jakobsen Pranay Shah