Professor Fiona Strens, who leads the university’s centre for defence and security artificial intelligence, said the contract would involve applying AI that has already been developed for Lincolnshire’s food production and processing industries.
“We’re taking that immense capability and pivoting it towards solving some defence problems,” she said.
“The Ministry of Defence is already using AI, but the world of AI is changing so fast that keeping up is a real challenge, so there needs to be a broad range of research into how it’s evolving.”
The university is already heavily involved in AI research and projects, and collaborates with 84 local AI companies, many of which were created by its graduates.
It is also part of The Greater Lincolnshire Regional Defence and Security Cluster and DecisionWorks, which are academic and private and public sector projects to collaborate, share research and create new business opportunities.