Innovation Call: Utilising Responsible AI for Better Consumer & Firm Outcomes

Learn about FinTech Scotland here.  

The Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) is an industry-led collaborative research and innovation programme focused on leveraging new technologies to respond to, shape and help evolve the future regulatory landscape in the UK and globally. FRIL is helping to create new employment and business opportunities, and enabling future talent.  

FRIL is a partnership between FinTech Scotland, a cluster management organisation that encourages innovation and collaboration within the financial services sector and the University of Strathclyde, 

FRIL will deliver two workstreams to support this: innovation calls; and knowledge exchange. There will be five innovations calls on industry-led themes between 2026 and 2029. Funded by Scottish Enterprise, FRIL will deliver this wide-ranging and ambitious agenda led by, and for the use of, the financial sector.  

Two additional workstreams will be supported, subject to funding: actionable research; skills and education.  

FRIL provides an environment for participants to engage and collaborate on the dynamic demands of financial regulation. This will allow them to explore, test and experiment with new technologies, build confidence in solutions and demonstrate their ability to meet regulatory standards worldwide.  

To be eligible to receive the grant award, the applicant must meet Funding Eligibility Criteria, including using the award to drive forward innovation in the UK with a focus on Scotland.  

The award funding is provided through Scottish Enterprise.  

For the full guidance and eligibility criteria click here. 

Absolutely. We welcome companies who do not meet the Funding Eligibility Criteria, but wish to participate in the Innovation Call to access the significant benefits including peer and industry engagement, thought leadership, and exposure. 

No, there are no registration fees and no direct costs to participate. However, travel to Glasgow and Edinburgh will be required for events. Travel costs will not be reimbursed.  

If you want to address multiple use cases within this responsible AI innovation call, you can select more than one use case on the application form. 

You can submit a second application for the responsible AI innovation call as part of a partnership with another fintech. Please note partnership applications this will require one lead applicant organisation (please read the full eligibility criteria).

If you have applied for one of the FRIL’s innovation calls in the past, you are welcome to apply again now or in the future.

An assessment panel has been made up of industry representatives, fintech experts and academics. The panel will judge the information in the applications and the pitches based on assessment criteria and will make a collective decision.  

All IP will remain under your ownership. The call invites you to present your proposition to the judges in as much detail as you feel comfortable with.  

In line with UK subsidy control rules, no grant can be provided by us if it means that you would exceed your minimal financial assistance (MFA) allowance of £315,000 (or, if applicable, your de minimis threshold) within the current and past two financial years.

More information can be found in the Eligibility Criteria document.

Yes, FinTech Scotland and its partners have a broad partner network of academia, industry and investors. Opportunities could be as broad and as varied as pitching to the assessment panel made up of relevant industry experts, presenting at events and introductions to other relevant businesses ranging from SMEs and large enterprises.  

We will look to enable these introductions later in the process and very much driven by the demand from industry partners to be connected to specific fintechs. For the avoidance of doubt, FRIL’s role is to facilitate the innovation process and grant awards, but not influence or direct commercial outcomes of any subsequent engagement fintechs may have with industry partners Any subsequent commercial discussions, including procurement, testing, proof of concept, contract negotiation, or due diligence, are the sole responsibility of the parties (both fintech and industry partners) involved. 

By participating in FRIL, innovators can gain valuable insights, connections, and support to help them navigate the complex landscape of financial innovation. However, it is essential to understand that FRIL’s role is limited to facilitation, capacity building, and support; we do not have any involvement in or influence over commercial agreements or procurement decisions. 

There are two parts to answering this question.    

We would be delighted for ANY business to apply for this challenge. Any business that believes they can make a meaningful contribution to the challenge statements is welcome to participate in the innovation challenge programme.   

That said, one specific aim of the FRIL is to stimulate fintech and financial services activity in Scotland. As such, applicants who want to be considered for grant funding must demonstrate how their project will benefits Scotland.  

Please outline in your submission how your application meets this requirement if you want to be considered for the potential £50,000 awards.   

This varies significantly, depending on the industry challenge being tackled and the solution offered. Across previous FRIL Innovation Calls, examples of economic benefit include, but are not limited to, the below. 

• Scottish job creation – Evidenced by new roles, graduate roles, technical roles, high-value salaries, planned headcount growth in Scotland.
  
• Scottish partnerships – Evidenced by partnerships with Scottish financial institutions, universities, accelerators, credit unions or public-sector bodies.
   
• Investment and follow-on funding – Evidenced by new investment raised or matched funding.
   
• Public-sector opportunity in Scotland – Evidenced by participation in CivTech, government contracts, public service improvements or responsible data use.
   
• Productivity gains – Evidenced by time saved, process automation, reduction in manual effort, faster onboarding or reporting.
   
• Market access and scaling – Evidenced by new pilots, commercial contracts, entry into financial services, international interest.
   
• Research and innovation ecosystem – Evidenced by university collaboration, student / academic involvement, accelerators, white papers, AI or data capability building. 

The Grant Awards have enabled a wide range of activities and acceleration. For example: 

• Developing proof-of-concepts, prototypes and MVPs: Grants were used to turn early ideas into testable products, including Proof of Concepts (PoCs), demonstrator tools, MVPs and test-ready platforms that could be shown to partners, customers or investors. 

• Hiring specialist technical and product talent: Grants were used to recruit or dedicate software developers, AI specialists, ESG experts, product teams, academic collaborators and operational staff to accelerate delivery. 

• Accessing and using data, infrastructure and specialist tools: Grants supported access to trade data, customer data, ESG data, proprietary datasets, verified primary data, cloud infrastructure and technical environments needed to build, test and validate solutions. 

• Developing new product features and AI-enabled capabilities: Grants were used to add new functionality such as AI assistants, automated risk logic, dashboards, greenwashing detection, vulnerability scoring, market surveillance, regulatory mapping, workflow steering and customer profiling. 
• Piloting, user testing and validating with end-users: Grants enabled companies to test solutions with banks, financial institutions, credit unions, advisers, analysts and other end-users, helping compress discovery, testing and validation timelines.
  
• Improving regulatory, compliance, governance and reporting readiness: Grants were used to adapt products for regulated financial services environments, including compliance monitoring, ESG reporting, operational resilience mapping, governance reporting, auditability, traceability and evidence-based outputs. 

Please contact FRIL@fintechscotland.com if you have any queries.  

You can also join an online Drop-In Clinic. These sessions are for applicants to discuss the programme and raise any queries ahead of applying. Registrations for these can be found on the application page above. 

It is sufficient to demonstrate an existing capability and a clear plan to validate and shape it with partners through the program. You can propose a concept or solution that’s already been developed or tried in a different context, as long as it addresses one of the use cases. 

You can include what you think is relevant to support your application, but bear in mind that you’ve only got 5 minutes for the video. Focus on explaining how your product or solution addresses the issue and how being part of the call will help advance the solution required by industry. 

You must be a UK-registered company with a UK Business Bank account, and you cannot have started the project before. The funding is intended to help advance the product market fit of existing products, not to pay for business-as-usual salary costs. 

Yes, but only if it’s for additional resources that will help advance the product to answer one of the use cases. You need to demonstrate that the costs are new or the programming of costs is intended to accelerate your product development and not just business-as-usual expenses. 

Yes, examples might include credit decisioning, such as deciding whether to give someone a bank loan or not. You can assume that the industry partners are exploring the use of AI across a variety of their products and services. 

Submit as much as you’re comfortable sharing, but be mindful that you’ll be sharing your ideas with others in the program. You can demonstrate that your solution is unique and different without revealing too much about your intellectual property. 

No, companies of all sizes are welcome to apply, and there are no parameters regarding the scale of the business. 

Yes, this is a requirement of all fintechs within the cohort. It is a chance to pitch your proposition to all the industry partners and stakeholders. 

Yes, a proposition can legitimately span multiple use cases where there is a broader fit. Use case selection does not influence which industry partners will review your proposition.  

All deep dives are open to all fintechs in the cohort regardless of which use cases they’ve applied for.  

All industry partners will be at the Kick-Off and Showcase days, so you’ll have the opportunity to present to them all. 

We don’t prescribe a specific TRL. We aim to be as inclusive as possible to answer the industry challenges (use cases).