Digital Science’s 2026 Catalyst Grant Seeks “Agentic AI Workflows You Can Trust”
Digital Science, a leading technology company serving stakeholders across the research ecosystem, today launches its Catalyst Grant round for 2026 to support innovative technology ideas. This year’s theme is: Agentic Workflows You Can Trust.
Up to £25,000 will be awarded equity-free to individuals, startups or research teams from across the globe.
The 2026 Digital Science Catalyst Grant is now open for applications. The deadline is Monday 5 October 2026.
Steve Scott, VP Portfolio Development at Digital Science, said: “AI tools are increasingly able to act on research, not just describe it. The next breakthroughs will come from agentic workflows, autonomous and multi-step, that researchers, institutions and funders can actually rely on.
“We’re funding the early-stage builders making AI agents safe to put in front of an institution: autonomous in service of researchers, with provenance, governance and accountability built in.
“This is a different category from the generative AI tools we were funding three years ago. An agentic workflow plans, executes and reviews multi-step work rather than answering a single prompt. Trust in this case means quality rather than detection. An agent that shows its working, not a tool that catches bad actors after the fact.”
