The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation in the US, and the EU’s framework research programme are the largest funders of research projects in artificial intelligence (AI), according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The OECD report says research funding agencies across the world have given a significant boost to AI-related R&D projects, with funding increasing from $207 million in 2001, to nearly $3.6 billion in 2019. The figures are in current prices, not adjusted for inflation and converted to US dollars.
The OECD says its estimate may not accurately reflect the amount of funding for AI research, as data is not uniformly available for all years for a number of agencies and programmes.
Data from agencies with reliable information available between 2008 and 2018 shows the total volume of AI-related R&D funding increased from $525 million to $2.2 billion.
This analysis excluded the following agencies due to lack of reliable data: Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Spain’s PlanEst, Japan’s Agency for Medical Research and Development, and the Netherland’s Research Council, NWO.
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.
