When people search for “AI grants”, they often land on Catapults and the Hartree Centre — but these offer something different from cash: compute, expertise and accelerators. Here’s how UK SMEs can actually use them in 2026, cited to official sources. (dgm implements osFoundry as an independent partner.)

What Catapults are (and aren’t)

Catapults are the UK’s technology and innovation centres. They are not primarily cash grant-givers — they offer facilities, expertise, accelerators and, sometimes, vouchers. For AI and digital work, the key nodes are Digital Catapult and the STFC Hartree Centre.

If you arrive expecting a grant cheque, you’ll be in the wrong place. If you arrive wanting compute, technical support, or a structured accelerator, they can be very useful.

Digital Catapult

Digital Catapult focuses on advanced digital technologies and supports SMEs through accelerators, expertise and programmes. Among these, it runs an AI startup programme / accelerator under BridgeAI — a route for AI-focused SMEs to get structured support and connections.

The Hartree Centre

The STFC Hartree Centre is the standout for compute. It issues:

  • Innovation vouchers and £5,000 HPC vouchers, giving SMEs access to high-performance computing (e.g. for training or running AI/data workloads);
  • direct technical support, with SME Engagement Hubs in Northern Ireland, Cardiff and North East England (funded by HNCDI); and
  • free self-paced training on embedding AI, such as predictive maintenance and intelligent automation, via its BridgeAI training.

A timing caveat

Voucher availability is programme-dependent and moves with funding cycles (often tied to BridgeAI), so it opens and closes over time. Check the current offer before planning a project around a voucher — and have a fallback if it isn’t open.

How to use this support

These resources suit businesses that need compute or technical depth they don’t have in-house — for example, a manufacturer wanting to prototype a predictive-maintenance model, or a startup needing HPC for a training run. Pair the compute/accelerator with a clearly defined project and you’ll get value; arrive without one and you’ll struggle to make use of it.

Where osFoundry and dgm fit

Compute and accelerators help you build — but you still need an implementation approach. dgm scopes and builds AI projects on osFoundry, which supports local and self-hosted inference (via llama.cpp on your own hardware) as well as cloud APIs through bring-your-own-key — so it works alongside HPC/compute resources rather than locking you into one provider. For UK data-sensitive work we’d use osFoundry’s EU region or a self-hosted deployment (it publishes US/EU/JP regions, not a UK one).

dgm is an independent integration partner with zero integrations so far. Catapult/Hartree support comes from those organisations. To scope an AI project that could use compute support, book a consultation with dgm. General information; confirm current voucher availability with the Hartree Centre.