Artificial intelligence has helped select scientists to fund climate research in the UK
For the first time in the UK, artificial intelligence has been used to select promising scientific projects close to commercialization. One of the first to receive a grant of 35 thousand pounds sterling was Joanna Sadler, an organic chemist from the University of Edinburgh, who is developing bacteria that convert plastic devices into the industrial solvent acetone.
The Climate Solutions Catalyst (CSC) program at Imperial College London was launched in 2024 thanks to a donation of 1.6 million pounds from the climate fund. The algorithm developed within its framework analyzed more than 10 thousand scientific articles by British researchers, identifying 160 publications with commercial potential.
After additional selection by experts, three scientists, including Sadler, received grants.
The funds are provided without obligations and can be used, for example, for marketing research or cooperation with industrial partners. According to the organizers, the goal of the program is to identify and support breakthrough ideas that might otherwise go unnoticed in traditional academic grant competitions.
Experts note that the use of AI can simplify the search for hidden innovative potential and make the distribution of funds more equitable. However, skeptics warn that algorithms are capable of reproducing bias and cannot completely replace human judgment.
