Singapore grant funding for AI projects: the EDGE Grant

What is the EDGE Grant?

EDGE is Enterprise Singapore's single activity-based grant for Singapore-registered companies starting a new project - to upgrade capability, improve productivity, or expand overseas. It was announced on 2 March 2026 under the Business Refresh Package and consolidates three schemes that used to be applied for separately: the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) and Market Readiness Assistance (MRA). It spans eight business areas and more than a hundred supportable activities under one application route.

The practical change is that you no longer pick the scheme first. You describe the activity, and EDGE decides whether that activity is supportable - which is a better fit for AI work than the old split, where the answer depended on whether your solution happened to be in a catalogue.

How much does EDGE fund?

• Up to 70% of qualifying costs for SMEs.
• Up to 50% for non-SMEs - EDGE is open to larger companies, which PSG and EDG's SME tiers were not.
• Up to S$100,000 per year in total grant support, shared across every EDGE activity you run in that year.

Two things to read carefully there. The cap is per year and shared, so three modest projects compete with each other for the same ceiling - sequencing matters. And support levels vary by activity: the headline rate is a ceiling, not a promise, and the activity you pick determines where in the range you land.

Where does an AI project fit?

Under the old split there was a rule worth remembering, because its logic survives: EDG would not fund what PSG already supported. Off-the-shelf, pre-approved software pointed at PSG; a project designed around your own operations pointed at EDG. EDGE removes the scheme choice but not the underlying distinction between buying a listed solution and building something around how your business actually works. The PSG component inside EDGE has been expanded to cover more AI-enabled and digital solutions, so the catalogue route is still there and is still the right answer for plenty of businesses.

A custom AI system - agents connected to your own inventory API, your CRM, your tender feed, your document store - is the second kind of project. It is assessed on its merits: what it changes about the way the work is done, what capability the business keeps afterwards, and whether the outcome is measurable. That is a higher bar to write than ticking a catalogue item, and it is the part we can genuinely help with.

What about IMDA's AI programmes?

Grants are not the only route, and for a first step they are often not the cheapest one. IMDA runs a GenAI Sandbox for SMEs that lets you trial a curated set of tools before committing budget - participation itself is free. The National AI Impact Programme adds advisory, training and sector-specific AI fluency tracks. Neither of those funds a custom build, but both are reasonable ways to find out what you actually want built. We map the full picture in Singapore's AI programmes for business.

What has to be true before you apply?

• The project must not have commenced. This is the one that catches people. Signing, paying a deposit, or starting work before approval generally disqualifies the project. Scope first, apply, then start.
• Grants are reimbursement. You pay, the project completes, you claim. Plan the cash flow for the full amount, not the net.
• You need a real project, not a purchase. Outcomes, scope, and costs that an assessor can follow.
• There are no application fees. Anyone charging you a fee to submit an application is not part of the scheme.
• Consultancy activities have consultant requirements. Under EDG this meant a certified consultant for certain project types; check the equivalent condition for the EDGE activity you are applying under.

If you have an ongoing PSG, EDG or MRA project

Nothing to do. An application already submitted, or a project already approved and running, stays on the scheme it started on, and you claim against that scheme when the project is complete. The changeover affects new applications only. Full detail on what moved and what did not is in what replaced PSG, EDG and MRA.

What we do here - and what we don't

We are an AI studio, not a grant consultancy, and the distinction matters enough to state plainly:

• We do scope the project properly, quote it as a fixed proposal before any work begins, and write the scope so that an assessor or your corporate advisor can read it and understand what is being bought and why.
• We are not a pre-approved catalogue vendor, and we do not appear on a pre-approved solution list.
• We do not apply on your behalf, and we do not promise a grant outcome. Anyone who promises you one is telling you something they cannot know.

If funding is central to whether the project happens, tell us early. It changes the sequencing - scope and document first, apply, then build - and it is much easier to do in that order than to retrofit.

Scheme details checked against Enterprise Singapore on 19 September 2026. Grant rules move - confirm the current position on EnterpriseSG or the Business Grants Portal before you commit to anything.