Poros Group · Grant funding
Winning innovation funding for AI-assisted ESG reporting
Aakash Kapur
A successful grant application can do more than finance a project. It can create the space to turn a clearly defined customer problem into a disciplined research and development programme.
The award
In 2022, a collaborative research and development proposal led commercially by Aakash Kapur secured a £349,293 grant offer from Innovate UK. The wider project had a total cost of £498,990 and began in September 2022.
The funded work focused on using machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve ESG data management. Its practical goals included clearer performance visualisation, more useful suggestions and insights, and stronger consistency and transparency in sustainability disclosure.
Why the application succeeded
Strong grant proposals connect technical ambition to a specific, evidenced need. Here, the case was not simply that AI could be applied to ESG reporting. It was that organisations faced recurring problems collecting, interpreting and communicating ESG information, and that a focused development programme could test a more useful approach.
The application also translated product development into a credible programme: a defined challenge, an innovation case, a delivery plan and benefits extending beyond the immediate users of the technology.
A foundation for what followed
This award created a foundation for a longer R&D journey. It helped move the work from broad ESG-data challenges towards applied tools for analysis and disclosure—experience that would later support a second successful funding application focused on generative AI and regulatory transparency.