AIChemy: The UK's AI Hub for Chemistry

The University of Liverpool and Imperial College London will lead a £12 million research hub, AIChemy, funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and consortium partners, to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) for chemistry. The AI for Chemistry Hub, AlChemy, will bring together internationally leading academic researchers, industry and other stakeholders to promote a collaborative community, provide training, and develop new approaches at the rapidly evolving interface between AI and chemistry. AI tools such as machine learning, automation, and robotics have the potential to support faster chemical discoveries, but this requires the coordinated engagement of leaders in both AI and chemistry to remain at the forefront of innovation in the field.

AIChemy aims to position the UK as a world leader in digital chemistry and is part of an £80 million investment by EPSRC to drive research and innovation in the UK. It involves nine academic institutions (the University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, Queen’s University Belfast, University College London (UCL) and the Universities of Cambridge, Manchester, Oxford, Southampton and Strathclyde) and more than 15 industry partners. Professor Andy Cooper of the University of Liverpool’s Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory (MIF) and Professor Kim Jelfs of the Department of Chemistry and the Institute for Digital Molecular Design and Fabrication (DigiFAB) at Imperial College London are co-leading this unique consortium.

The £81 million MIF brings together world-leading materials chemistry expertise with computational and robotic tools to accelerate research and product development to address societal challenges. DigiFAB is pioneering digital molecular design and fabrication for a smarter, healthier. and more sustainable society, moving from manual to automated, data-driven methods to revolutionize chemical design and production.