What Changes for SME AI Funding in 2H2026: EDGE and SFEC

Most guides to Singapore's SME support schemes describe a steady state. The second half of 2026 is not one.

Three of the schemes SMEs have planned around for years are changing in the same window: the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) and the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) grant are being merged into a single new scheme called EDGE, and the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC) expires on 30 November 2026 with unused credit forfeited.

Because the grant that funds custom AI work requires approval before the project starts, these changes affect when you should scope, not just what you can claim.

This is a timing guide. For the eligibility rules themselves — what PSG and EDG each cover, and which one applies to custom AI work — see our guide to PSG and EDG grants for AI projects.

What's changing, at a glance

EDGE: one grant replaces three

Enterprise Singapore is consolidating PSG, EDG and MRA into a single activity-based grant, EDGE, launching in the second half of 2026. Two things about it matter to an SME planning AI work:

It removes the PSG-or-EDG decision. Today, choosing between them is the first real question on any AI project — PSG funds only pre-approved solutions from the GoBusiness catalogue, while custom development falls under EDG. A single activity-based scheme is meant to make what you're doing the deciding factor rather than which scheme you applied under.

It opens support to non-SMEs. EDGE will be available to all Singapore businesses, including companies above the SME thresholds that PSG and EDG currently exclude.

What has not been published is the support rate. Until it is, no one can tell you what EDGE will fund at, and any figure quoted for it today is speculation. Enterprise Singapore's own guidance is that existing grants remain accessible on current terms until EDGE launches:

• EDG — up to 50% of qualifying costs for SMEs (since 1 April 2023), across Core Capabilities, Innovation & Productivity, and Market Access. Sustainability projects can reach 70% under the separate Enterprise Sustainability Programme.
• PSG — up to 50% of eligible costs, capped at S$30,000, for pre-approved solutions only. Budget 2026 expanded PSG's catalogue to cover more digital and AI-enabled solutions.

The practical read: if you have a scoped project now, applying under the current EDG is a known quantity. Waiting for EDGE means waiting for an unpublished rate on an unpublished date.

SFEC: a real deadline, and the credit does lapse

The SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit expires on 30 November 2026, and this one has teeth: Enterprise Singapore states that unused credit will be forfeited. There is no reimbursement and no carry-over.

The credit is a one-off S$10,000 per entity, covering up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses, with a S$7,000 sub-cap for Enterprise Transformation programmes. Final claims must be submitted to the administering agencies by 30 November 2026 — so the deadline is for claims, not just for starting something.

From 1 December 2026, a redesigned SFEC takes over, administered by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA). Its terms have not been published yet.

Why this matters for an AI project: SFEC supports the training half of an adoption project — the change-management work of getting a team to actually use what was built. That is the half most SMEs underfund, and it is the half that decides whether an automation gets used or quietly abandoned. If your entity has unused credit, the question is whether you can put it to work before 30 November, not whether the redesigned scheme will be better.

Where the "up to 70%" figure actually comes from

If you have seen "up to 70% funding" quoted for a Singapore AI project, it is worth knowing which scheme that rate belongs to — because it is not the rate for a custom AI build.

70% is real, but it attaches to specific schemes with specific scopes:

None of these is the base rate for building a custom AI agent. That remains EDG at up to 50% for SMEs. A quote of "70% funding" for an AI implementation is either referring to one of the above — in which case the scope conditions come with it — or it is wrong.

The CTC Grant, and a stale date worth correcting

The CTC Grant funds up to 70% of qualifying cost per project, and it is the most commonly misquoted scheme on this list in two directions at once.

The deadline everyone cites is out of date. Sources across the web still list the application window as closing 31 July 2026 — a date that has now passed. It was extended to 31 March 2028. The scheme is open.

But it is training-led, not a build grant. To qualify you must form a Company Training Committee with union/NTUC involvement and develop a transformation plan tied to worker outcomes. Qualifying costs cover external training (up to 70% of fees, non-SSG-supported courses only), in-house training at S$9/hour per worker, equipment and software tied to the transformation project, and consultancy. The funding quantum depends on how strong the project is relative to the worker outcomes committed to.

So CTC can support an AI deployment — but through the workforce-transformation frame, with the reskilling of affected staff as the centre of the application rather than an afterthought.

EIS: the one that isn't a grant

The Enterprise Innovation Scheme is administered by IRAS and works differently from everything else here. It reduces what you owe rather than offsetting what you spend, and it lands at year-end rather than at project approval.

EIS grants a 400% tax deduction (the normal 100% plus an additional 300%) across five activity categories, for YA2024 to YA2028:

There is also a cash payout option for businesses that aren't yet profitable enough for a deduction to help: convert up to S$100,000 of qualifying expenditure per YA into cash at a 20% conversion rate, capped at S$20,000 per YA.

Why this matters for an AI project: most SME AI deployments are adoption, not R&D, so the R&D category usually doesn't apply. The training category often does. The point of knowing EIS exists is that it stacks with the grant side — it is a tax treatment of spend, not a competing source of funding for it.

Can these be stacked?

The general rule is that schemes cannot fund the same dollar twice, but they routinely cover different components of one project. On a typical AI deployment those components are:

1. The build — scoping, development, integration. Currently EDG (up to 50% for SMEs); EDGE once it launches.
2. The training — reskilling the team whose work changes. CTC (up to 70%, through the workforce-transformation frame), or SFEC before 30 November.
3. The tax treatment — qualifying spend claimed under EIS at year-end.

That is where "70%" and "50%" both come from and why they aren't in conflict: they are rates on different components. What you cannot do is claim the same consultancy invoice under two schemes.

Stacking rules are scheme-specific and assessed case by case. Confirm the combination with the administering agencies — or your Enterprise Singapore advisor — before you build a budget on it.

What this means for the timing of an AI project

1. EDG requires approval before work begins. Work done before the grant is approved is not fundable — the most common and most expensive mistake SMEs make. Every deadline below therefore has a real deadline some weeks earlier, because the application has to be scoped, submitted and approved before it.
2. Don't wait for EDGE on the strength of a rate nobody has published. If a project is scoped and the case is sound, the current EDG terms are known. EDGE's are not.
3. Check SFEC now, not in November. If your entity has unused credit, 30 November is a forfeiture date, and claims — not just applications — have to be in by then.
4. Scope before you choose a scheme, not after. Which scheme applies depends on what you're actually building. See the AI opportunity assessment framework for establishing scope first.
5. A deadline is a bad reason to pick the wrong project. Bringing forward spend on a project you had already planned is sound. Inventing a project to catch an expiring credit is how SMEs end up with an automation nobody uses.
6. Verify rates at the time you apply. Every figure here was checked against the administering bodies in August 2026, and this is a period in which they are moving.

A note for financial institutions

If you are MAS-regulated rather than an Enterprise Singapore SME, the Financial Sector Technology and Innovation (FSTI) scheme is the more relevant instrument. FSTI 3.0 committed up to S$150 million across Centre of Excellence, Industry-wide Projects and Innovation Acceleration tracks, with AI and data analytics among its focus areas, and was extended to 16 July 2026.

That end date has now passed, and we were unable to confirm the scheme's current status or any successor directly with MAS at the time of writing. Confirm with MAS before assuming FSTI is available — we are not going to guess at it here. For the kind of financial-sector work that has historically qualified, see our wealth management document processing page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the EDGE grant replacing in Singapore?

EDGE is a new single activity-based grant from Enterprise Singapore that streamlines the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) and the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) grant into one scheme. It launches in the second half of 2026 and will be available to all Singapore businesses, including non-SMEs. Until it launches, PSG, EDG and MRA remain accessible on their current terms. Enterprise Singapore has not yet published EDGE's support rates.

When does the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit expire?

SFEC expires on 30 November 2026, and final claims must be submitted to the administering agencies by that date. Unused credit is forfeited — it is not reimbursed and does not carry over. The credit is a one-off S$10,000 per entity covering up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses, with a S$7,000 sub-cap for Enterprise Transformation programmes. A redesigned SFEC administered by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) takes effect from 1 December 2026, with details not yet published.

Can I still get 70% funding for an AI project in Singapore?

70% is a real rate, but it belongs to specific schemes rather than to AI implementation generally. The CTC Grant funds up to 70% of qualifying cost for workforce transformation projects; MRA is enhanced to 70% for SMEs until 31 March 2029 for overseas market expansion; and EDG sustainability projects reach 70% under the Enterprise Sustainability Programme. The base rate for a custom AI build under EDG remains up to 50% for SMEs. A "70% funding" quote for an AI implementation is either referring to one of those schemes, with their scope conditions attached, or it is inaccurate.

Is the CTC Grant still open in 2026?

Yes. Many sources still list the CTC Grant application window as closing on 31 July 2026, but the deadline was extended to 31 March 2028. The grant funds up to 70% of qualifying cost per project, covering external training (non-SSG-supported courses only), in-house training at S$9/hour per worker, equipment and software tied to the transformation project, and consultancy. It requires forming a Company Training Committee with union involvement and a transformation plan tied to worker outcomes.

Can Singapore SME grants be stacked on one AI project?

Schemes generally cannot fund the same dollar of cost twice, but they routinely cover different components of a single project — the build under EDG, the training under CTC or SFEC, and qualifying spend claimed under EIS at year-end. That is why 50% and 70% figures both circulate without contradicting each other: they are rates on different components. Stacking is assessed case by case, so confirm the specific combination with the administering agencies before budgeting on it.

Do these changes affect PSG and EDG applications now?

Not yet. Enterprise Singapore has confirmed that PSG, EDG and MRA remain accessible on their current terms until EDGE launches in the second half of 2026 — PSG at up to 50% capped at S$30,000 for pre-approved solutions, and EDG at up to 50% of qualifying costs for SMEs. Because EDG requires approval before project work begins, a scoped project is generally better served by applying under known current terms than by waiting for rates that have not been published.

Next Steps

The starting point is the same as it has always been: map your highest-volume, most repetitive workflows before choosing a scheme. The scheme follows the scope, not the other way round — and in a transition period that is more true, not less.

• PSG: GoBusiness PSG page
• EDG and EDGE: Enterprise Singapore
• SFEC: Enterprise Singapore SFEC FAQ
• CTC Grant: NTUC e2i
• EIS: IRAS

All figures verified against the administering bodies in August 2026. Rates and dates are moving this year — confirm before you commit.

ADV Digital Labs works with Singapore SMEs on EDG-eligible AI agent projects. PSG covers pre-approved solutions from the GoBusiness list; custom agent development falls under EDG's Innovation and Productivity pillar. We help scope the project, prepare the documentation, and deliver the implementation. Get in touch to discuss whether your project qualifies.

See also: PSG and EDG grants for AI projects · AI opportunity assessment framework · PDPA compliance and AI agents