EduGrade AI, an educator-controlled assessment and feedback platform developed and led by Dr Deepshikha in the School of Engineering and Materials Science, has been selected for the Innovate UK ICURe Exploit Business and Spinout Readiness programme.

The achievement marks an important step towards potential spinout formation and the wider adoption of EduGrade AI across higher education.

EduGrade AI was developed to address a significant challenge facing universities: providing detailed, consistent, and timely feedback while managing increasing academic workloads. The platform uses artificial intelligence to generate rubric-aligned draft feedback and indicative scores against criteria defined by educators.

Academic judgement remains central to the process. Educators review, edit, and approve all feedback and marks before anything is released to students.

“AI should give academics their time back, not take their judgement away. Every decision that matters still sits with the educator,” said Dr Deepshikha.

The selection follows EduGrade AI’s successful participation in the ICURe Explore programme. Through an extensive market discovery process, the team engaged with university leaders, academics, professional services teams, and technology partners to evaluate the need for responsible AI-enabled assessment infrastructure.

Following the team’s presentation to the ICURe panel in Belfast, the project was invited to continue towards potential spinout formation through the Exploit programme. The panel recognised the team’s strong domain knowledge, market engagement and understanding of the challenges surrounding AI adoption in higher education.

ICURe Exploit programme will support the team in translating this research-led innovation into scalable assessment infrastructure, developing the wider leadership team, and preparing for potential spinout formation.