The RIDT Artificial Intelligence Award
Introduction
The RIDT Artificial Intelligence Award (RIDT AI Award) is a collaborative initiative between the Research Innovation and Development Trust (RIDT) and the Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) at the University of Malta.
This inaugural programme is dedicated to propelling promising Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations toward commercialisation. With a total of €10,000 in funding, the award is designed to showcase impressive student work in the field of AI.
Eligibility
The fund is open to candidates who have completed a dissertation/thesis in Artificial Intelligence as part of their course requirements at the UM.
Candidates are invited to apply for this award after successfully completing their Master’s/PhD course at UM.
Application Format
Initial written applications will be evaluated and scored by an Adjudication Team that may include the sponsor, successful entrepreneurs, technical experts, technology commercialisation professionals and investors.
Each application must be accompanied by a Letter of Support signed by the relevant Academic member/s of staff who supported/supervised the Student project.
The Adjudication Team will rank all written applications, and shortlist proposals to progress to the second stage that consists of a pitch to the Adjudication Team in the final competition.
Applications will be judged according to a scorecard, based on the following factors:
(1) Market Opportunity (30%),
(2) Customers & Users (30%),
(3) Innovation in AI (30%),
(4) Written Presentation/ Presentation During Pitch (10%).
The Fund
The Artificial Intelligence Award has an allocation of €10,000 to be awarded at the discretion of the Adjudication Team.
Each awarded application shall be granted a maximum of €2,500 which will be paid directly to the applicant.
Any unawarded funds will be carried forward to be granted the following year.
Submission
Submit the completed form to projects.knowledgetransfer@um.edu.mt by 01 December 2025 at 12:00 noon.
The submission should be in PDF format and should be named as follows: RIDT AI Award_Project Title.pdf