Digital Planning has launched a £50,000 pilot fund for East Midlands businesses to test AI automation projects, run in partnership with East Midlands Chamber. The Agentic AI Pilot Fund will support 10 companies, each receiving up to £5,000 in funded implementation support to build an AI agent addressing one defined operational problem.

Digital Planning, based in Leicestershire, was founded in 2021 and works on digital transformation projects; its turnover and EBITDA are not publicly available. The fund follows Digital Planning's appointment as a strategic partner of East Midlands Chamber, formalising a relationship built through joint innovation projects and regional skills initiatives.

Eligible businesses must have annual turnover of at least £1 million or a workforce of at least 25 employees, identify a repetitive manual process capable of saving £50,000 a year through automation, and provide access to the systems and data used in that workflow. Places will not be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis; applications will instead be judged on the proposed pilot's likely business impact, and successful applicants must agree to share results as a case study, which can be anonymised if required.

Mark Underwood, Co-founder, Digital Planning, said: "We're backing this with our own money because we're confident in the return businesses will see. Once leaders have a working automation solving a real problem, without a leap of faith on cost or risk, they can see the value for themselves." James Ferraby, Co-founder and Head of Digital Planning, added: "We are not looking for businesses that simply want AI in general. We are looking for one specific, costly problem that we can fix."

The structural driver is the gap between broad AI interest and the practical starting point most small and mid-sized businesses lack, which the fund addresses by narrowing each pilot to a single measurable process rather than an open-ended transformation programme.

For the sector, this signals a shift toward self-funded, outcome-defined AI pilots as a lower-risk entry point for regional SMEs, with vendors using regional chamber partnerships to build a local pipeline of case studies ahead of broader commercial rollout.

Source: itbrief.co.uk / thebusinessdesk.com / eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk