The Manchester Prize is a multi-million-pound, multi-year challenge prize from the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to reward UK-led breakthroughs in artificial intelligence for the public good.
I am thrilled that Agent Net Zero has been chosen as a Manchester Prize finalist. This innovative AI Agent conducts life cycle assessment automatically, identifies environmental hotspots, and suggests practical improvements, giving businesses a 24/7 sustainability assistant to help them achieve their net-zero goals while maintaining competitiveness.
Dr Wei Xing
Every year, the prize rewards innovations that will help to transform the lives of people across the UK. In its second year, the Manchester Prize will reward UK - led breakthroughs in artificial intelligence that will accelerate action towards the UK’s ambitious clean energy and net-zero goals.
Dr Xing will collaborate with the AMRC to create Agent Net Zero. This is an innovative AI system that helps industrial companies become more sustainable by analysing their environmental impact in real-time. The system continuously monitors energy usage and emissions by connecting to various data sources across operations. Using advanced AI techniques, Agent Net Zero identifies environmental hotspots and automatically suggests practical improvements. This gives businesses clear, actionable insights to reduce their carbon footprint while maintaining productivity and competitiveness, essentially providing a "sustainability assistant" that works 24/7 to help companies achieve their net-zero goals.
AI has the power to transform energy systems; however, despite rapid progress in AI technologies, the application of AI to Clean Energy Systems has not kept pace. The Manchester Prize is incentivising the development and deployment of AI to support the UK in realising its mission to be a clean energy superpower.
The 10 most promising solutions making up the finalist cohort will each be supported with £100,000 in seed funding, up to £60,000 of compute and additional non-financial support to develop solutions capable of winning the £1 million grand prize in spring 2026.
To learn more about the teams, visit the Manchester Prize website and the Department of Science and Technology website.