The EDGE Grant’s AI and Digitalisation Pillar: What Singapore SMEs Can Claim for AI Adoption Projects

The EDGE Grant that Enterprise Singapore rolled out to replace the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) and Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) from 30 September 2026 is not simply a rebadging exercise. One of the clearest shifts within it is how much more room has been made for artificial intelligence. Under the Automation & Digitalisation business area, Singapore SMEs can now claim support for a genuinely wide range of AI adoption projects, from customer-facing chatbots to predictive analytics dashboards, in a way that the old PSG’s pre-scoped solution list never quite allowed for.

This matters because AI adoption grant Singapore support has, until recently, been scattered across the Productivity Solutions Grant’s fixed vendor list and IMDA’s SMEs Go Digital programme, each with its own quirks. The EDGE Grant consolidates the funding pathway, but SMEs still need to understand exactly what counts as a claimable AI project, what evidence is expected, and how the co-funding caps work in practice.

This article looks specifically at the AI and digitalisation side of the EDGE Grant: what a genuine AI adoption project looks like on paper, which cost categories are claimable, and how a Singapore SME should structure its application so that a claim does not get rejected for being too vague about the “AI” component.

What changed for AI adoption projects under EDGE

Enterprise Singapore’s EDGE Grant brings together eight business areas, including Automation & Digitalisation, Business Strategy, Financial Management, Innovation, Internationalisation, Standards and Sustainability, under a single application and a single annual funding cap. SMEs can receive up to 70% support and non-SMEs up to 50%, subject to a shared cap of up to S$100,000 in total grant support per company per year across all EDGE activities, refreshed on 1 April each year. Grant support is disbursed on a reimbursement basis, meaning claims are only submitted once the activity is completed and paid for in full.

For AI specifically, Budget 2026 widened what used to sit under the PSG’s pre-approved solutions list to cover more digital and AI-enabled tools, with the stated aim that companies of any size, not just fast-growing tech firms, can access AI capability building. In parallel, IMDA’s SMEs Go Digital programme continues to run its own “Be Smarter” pillar under the Digital Enterprise Blueprint, which is specifically about AI adoption, alongside “Scale Faster”, “Be Safer” and “Upskill Workers”. A Singapore SME planning an AI project should check both the EDGE Grant page on enterprisesg.gov.sg and IMDA’s solution directory, because some AI tools are packaged under one, some under the other, and a few qualify under both depending on how the project is scoped.

Existing EDG, PSG and MRA approvals still run their course

If your company already has an approved EDG, PSG or MRA project in progress, that approval continues to be processed under the old scheme’s terms and you can still submit claims once the project is completed. New applications from 30 September 2026 onwards, however, must go through the EDGE Grant, which is why we have covered the transition mechanics separately in what happens to your existing EDG, PSG or MRA approval after the sunset. This piece assumes you are starting a fresh AI adoption project under EDGE.

What counts as a claimable AI adoption project

The single biggest mistake we see SMEs make is treating “we bought software with an AI feature” as automatically claimable. Enterprise Singapore and IMDA are looking for a genuine capability upgrade tied to a business outcome, not a licence renewal with a marketing label attached. Broadly, the kinds of AI projects that have been supported, whether through EDGE’s Automation & Digitalisation area or IMDA’s pre-approved AI-enabled solutions, fall into a few practical categories.

Notice the pattern across the “what assessors look for” column: every project needs a measurable outcome, not just a purchase. When we help clients prepare a case brief for a grant application, the exercise of articulating the “before and after” state is often what turns a marginal application into a strong one.

Claimable cost categories

Under the Automation & Digitalisation business area, the categories typically claimable for an AI adoption project include:

• Software licensing fees for the AI-enabled platform itself, whether subscription-based or a one-time implementation licence.
• Implementation and integration costs, including connecting the AI tool to existing accounting, CRM or ERP systems.
• Consultancy and advisory fees where a qualified vendor or consultant scopes the AI deployment.
• Training costs to bring staff up to speed on using the new AI tool, which ties into IMDA’s “Upskill Workers” pillar.
• Equipment directly required for the AI solution to run, where applicable, though this is assessed on a case-by-case basis and is less commonly the bulk of an AI claim compared to software and implementation.

What is generally not claimable is hardware or software with no direct link to the AI capability being built, general IT maintenance unrelated to the project, and costs incurred before the grant application was approved. This last point trips up more applicants than any other category: work done, or invoices dated, ahead of formal approval is routinely disallowed.

Eligibility criteria for Singapore SMEs

To apply for EDGE Grant support for an AI adoption project, a company generally needs to meet the following, consistent with Enterprise Singapore’s broader eligibility framework:

• Be registered and operating in Singapore.
• Have a minimum local shareholding, typically at least 30% held by Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents, for SME-tier support levels.
• Have group annual sales and group employment headcount within the prevailing SME thresholds to qualify for the higher 70% support tier; larger, non-SME companies remain eligible but at the lower 50% tier.
• Demonstrate that the AI project is new to the business, meaning it has not already commenced or been paid for before approval.

Because support levels and the annual cap are shared across all EDGE activities, a company already running a claim under, say, the Financial Management or Sustainability business area should factor that into how much headroom remains for an AI adoption project in the same funding year.

Structuring a strong AI adoption application

From what we have seen in client engagements, applications that succeed tend to do three things well. First, they name a specific, current business problem, for example, a sales team spending too many hours on manual lead qualification, rather than a generic ambition to “become more digital”. Second, they attach the AI solution directly to that problem, with the vendor’s proposal or scope of work spelling out how the AI component functions, not just that AI is present. Third, they build in a measurement plan, so that when the project is completed and a claim is submitted, there is a before-and-after comparison ready to support it.

It also helps to be realistic about timelines. Grant processing, project implementation and the reimbursement claim process together typically span several months, so an SME planning an AI rollout for a specific operational deadline should start the EDGE application well ahead of that date rather than treating the grant as an afterthought.

For SMEs weighing whether to combine AI adoption with a broader capability upgrade, it is also worth thinking about business investment planning more holistically. Business investment planning that looks beyond the grant quantum itself, at cash flow timing, tax treatment of the capitalised software, and how the AI tool fits the company’s medium-term growth plan, tends to produce a better outcome than chasing the grant in isolation.

How this differs from the old PSG approach

Under the previous Productivity Solutions Grant, AI-enabled tools were mostly accessed through a fixed pre-approved solutions directory, bought largely as-is with limited customisation. The EDGE Grant’s Automation & Digitalisation area retains a pre-approved solutions pathway for straightforward, packaged tools, but also allows for more customised AI implementation projects to be assessed on their own merits, closer to how the old EDG evaluated capability-building projects. This is a meaningful shift for SMEs whose AI needs do not fit neatly into an off-the-shelf chatbot or accounting add-on, for example a professional services firm building a bespoke document review workflow.

We have separately covered how this pillar applies to accounting, legal and corporate secretarial firms specifically in the EDGE Grant guide for professional services firms, and the common pitfalls that trip up applicants generally in EDGE Consolidated Grant Framework: common mistakes and rejection reasons. If your AI project sits alongside a wider tax planning exercise, our note on the Enterprise Innovation Scheme’s 400% tax deductions is also worth a read, since qualifying AI and automation spending can sometimes benefit from both the grant and the tax deduction in the same year, subject to the usual anti-double-benefit rules.

Corporate secretaries themselves are not immune from this shift either. We have written previously about how AI-enabled corporate secretary platforms compare to traditional providers, which is a useful companion read if your own back office is the one being digitalised.

A practical checklist before you apply

For SMEs comparing several grant schemes side by side before committing to an AI project, the independent grants directory at Little Big Red Dot’s grants section is a handy cross-check against what is listed directly on enterprisesg.gov.sg and gobusiness.gov.sg.

Conclusion

The AI and digitalisation side of the EDGE Grant gives Singapore SMEs meaningfully more room to fund genuine AI adoption, chatbots, predictive analytics, AI-assisted accounting and CRM tools among them, than the old PSG’s fixed solutions list allowed. The trade-off is that applications now need a clearer articulation of the business problem being solved and the outcome being measured, rather than simply naming a software product. Getting the scoping, cost categorisation and timing right before you apply makes the difference between a smooth reimbursement claim and a rejected one.

If you are planning an AI adoption project and want a second pair of eyes on how it fits within the EDGE Grant framework, or want help sequencing it alongside your company’s annual filings and tax planning, we are glad to help.

To speak with the team at Raffles Corporate Services, you can email [email protected] or call, SMS, or WhatsApp +65 8501 7133. We are happy to assist with any queries.

The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services