Announcing the 10 finalists of the first Manchester Prize
21 May 2024
The Manchester Prize has announced the 10 finalist teams who have been awarded £100,000 to develop their solutions over the next eight months
The Prime Minister announced the Prize’s first ever finalists at the AI Seoul Summit on Tuesday, followed by an event for the finalists in Manchester’s Whitworth Gallery, where they will be given the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a room full of industry leaders and potential investors.
The ten finalists will each receive prizes of £100,000 to develop their solutions in the next eight months, as well as a package of support including up to £90,000 for compute, investor readiness, support for scaling up, and access to a supporter network to advance their ideas to working prototypes capable of winning the £1 million grand prize in spring 2025.
This prize puts brilliant British AI innovation at the heart of addressing some of our biggest shared challenges. A decade-long commitment by the government, we are supporting our peerless AI talent with an annual £1 million grand prize to bring through the next wave of game-changing technological solutions.
“I look forward to seeing our finalists develop their solutions further over the coming months, as we look to harness the incredible potential of AI to bring about transformative change in the fields of energy, the environment, and infrastructure.
What is the Manchester Prize?
Announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last Spring and launched in November 2023, the Manchester Prize calls on innovators, academics, entrepreneurs and disruptors to submit their proposed solutions, particularly related to energy, environment and infrastructure.
It received almost 300 entries from UK-led teams, with ideas ranging from renewable energy solutions to advanced materials manufacturing, agritech innovations to transport management tools.
In January 2025, the teams will demonstrate their prototype and make a final submission to be considered for the grand prize. In March 2025, the best team, selected according to the judging criteria, is awarded the grand prize of £1 million.