SDL LANDSCAPE — SELF-DRIVING LAB INITIATIVES WORLDWIDE 112 initiatives · 15 countries · dataset of 2026-09-02 https://sdl-map.discoverylabs.nl MIT — cite the map when reusing (github.com/yetiswang/sdl-map) ======================================================================== NATIONAL / FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES (24) ======================================================================== Acceleration Consortium — University of Toronto Toronto, Canada domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: partial · since: 2019 · investment: $500M (CFREF+matched) https://acceleration.utoronto.ca/ CAPeX Pioneer Center — DTU + 4 universities Lyngby, Denmark domain: energy · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: €40M / 13 yrs https://capex.dtu.dk/ BIG-MAP / FULL-MAP — Battery2030+ consortium Brussels, EU domain: batteries · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: €40M (H2020+HE) https://www.big-map.eu/ US DOE National Labs — DOE (ARPA-E + CHIPS) Washington DC, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: $140M https://arpa-e.energy.gov/ Korea 500 SDL Initiative — MOTIE AI+R&D Strategy Seoul, Korea domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: $320M by 2035 https://www.motie.go.kr/en/main.do NUS AI4S · Materials Data Foundry — NRF Singapore · NUS I-FIM + U Toronto Singapore, Singapore domain: materials · maturity: concept · ai: strong · since: 2026 · investment: S$120M (NRF AI4S, 8 projects) https://news.nus.edu.sg/ai-for-science-nus-4-ai-based-projects/ UK ARIA AI Scientists — ARIA London, UK domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: £6M https://aria.org.uk/ DiscoveryLabNL — NWO LSRI Eindhoven, Netherlands domain: materials · maturity: concept · ai: planned · since: 2025 · investment: €30M (planned) https://discoverylabs.nl/ Big Chemistry — Radboud (lead) + TU/e, Groningen, AMOLF, Fontys Nijmegen, Netherlands domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: partial · since: 2022 · investment: €96.9M (NGF) https://bigchemistry.nl/ PEPR DIADEM — CNRS + CEA (France 2030) Paris, France domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: partial · since: 2022 · investment: €85M / 8 yrs https://www.pepr-diadem.fr/ HELMA (Helmholtz Acceleration Alliance) — Helmholtz Assn (KIT lead) Karlsruhe, Germany domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: Internal Helmholtz funding https://www.helma.kit.edu/ BioPACIFIC MIP — UCLA + UCSB (NSF MIP) Los Angeles, USA domain: biomaterials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: $43.5M (DMR-1933487 + DMR-2445868) https://biopacificmip.org/ NSF AI Institute for Materials Innovation — Cornell-led (Princeton, CCNY, BU) Ithaca, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: $20M (NSF, 2025) https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/07/national-science-foundation-announces-cornell-led-ai-materials-institute NRC BattMAP / BattPAP — National Research Council Canada Mississauga, Canada domain: batteries · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: Federal (Critical Minerals Strategy) https://nrc.canada.ca/en/research-development/research-collaboration/programs/critical-battery-materials-initiative AIChemy (UK AI for Chemistry Hub) — U Liverpool + Imperial (EPSRC) Liverpool, UK domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: £12M EPSRC (+£19M partner) https://aichemy.ac.uk RIKEN / IST Maholo SDL — RIKEN BDR + Inst. Science Tokyo (JST) Kobe, Japan domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: ~¥1.1B (~$7.3M JST) https://www.riken.jp/en/ AIST AUTOkobo — AIST (Multi-Modal AI project) Tsukuba, Japan domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: — https://www.aist.go.jp/index_en.html ASCEND — HZB + Fritz Haber Inst. (MPG) Berlin, Germany domain: chemistry · maturity: concept · ai: strong · since: 2026 · investment: €30M / 5 yrs (BMFTR) https://ascend-project.berlin/ AI-Assisted Materials Discovery Institute — Tsinghua University (Omar Yaghi) Beijing, China domain: materials · maturity: concept · ai: strong · since: 2026 · investment: — https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/info/1244/14984.htm NSF PCL Test Bed — NSF + Astera Institute State College, PA, USA domain: cross-domain · maturity: concept · ai: strong · since: 2026 · investment: $400M https://www.nsf.gov/tip/updates/nsf-announces-400m-investment-new-national-network-ai Ewha IMMS Self-Driving Lab — Ewha Womans University / IMMS (NRL 2.0) Seoul, Korea domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: KRW 114B (~$83M) / 10 yrs · MSIT+MOE+Ewha https://imms.ewha.ac.kr/en/ ARES (AFRL) — US Air Force Research Laboratory (Maruyama) Dayton, OH, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2016 · investment: — https://afresearchlab.com/ CAMEO (NIST) — NIST (Kusne) + synchrotron beamlines Gaithersburg, MD, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: — https://www.nist.gov/ MINERVA (BAM) — BAM Berlin (Ruehle junior research group) Berlin, Germany domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: — https://www.bam.de/Content/EN/Standard-Articles/About-us/Jobs-and-Careers/Young-Science/project-group-ruehle-self-driving-lab-advanced-materials.html ======================================================================== ACADEMIC PLATFORMS (44) ======================================================================== A-Lab — Berkeley / LBNL Berkeley, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: — https://ceder.berkeley.edu/research-areas/autonomous-experimentation-for-accelerated-materials-discovery/ Polybot — Argonne (CNM) Lemont, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: — https://www.anl.gov/cnm/article/transforming-electronic-polymer-manufacturing-with-polybot CMU Cloud Lab — Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh, USA domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2021 · investment: — https://cloudlab.cmu.edu/ Coscientist — CMU (Gomes Group) Pittsburgh, USA domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: — https://www.cmu.edu/chemistry/news/2023/1220_ai-coscientist-automates-discovery.html Abolhasani Lab — NC State Raleigh, USA domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: — https://www.abolhasanilab.com/ Genesis — Chalmers (King Group) Gothenburg, Sweden domain: biology · maturity: prototype · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: £1M https://www.automationof.science/ Cooper Group / MIF Liverpool — U Liverpool (MIF, opened 2017; CMD forerunner 2007) Liverpool, UK domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2017 · investment: £81M MIF (Unilever £25M + UKRPIF £11M) https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/materials-innovation-factory/ AMADAP — FAU Erlangen Erlangen, Germany domain: materials · maturity: prototype · ai: strong · since: 2021 · investment: — https://www.solar.fau.de/ NIMS Autonomous AI Network — NIMS + Tsukuba Tsukuba, Japan domain: materials · maturity: prototype · ai: strong · since: 2015 · investment: — https://www.nims.go.jp/group/autonomous/index_en.html dLab — U Tokyo Tokyo, Japan domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: — https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/press/z0508_00407.html KAIST-POSCO Autonomous Lab — KAIST + POSCO Daejeon, Korea domain: batteries · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: — https://www.kaist.ac.kr/en/ KIST MARK System — KIST Seoul, Korea domain: chemistry · maturity: prototype · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: — https://www.kist.re.kr/eng/index.do SNU SDL Ecosystem — SNU / Jung Lab Seoul, Korea domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2026 · investment: — https://en.snu.ac.kr/research/highlights?md=v&bbsidx=153588 Jun Jiang Group / ChemAgents + Robot Chemist — USTC Hefei (Jun Jiang) Hefei, China domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: — http://staff.ustc.edu.cn/~jiangj1/ Noël Group — U Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2018 · investment: — https://www.noelresearchgroup.com/ DIFFER Autonomous Energy Materials Discovery (Süleyman Er) — DIFFER (NWO institute) Eindhoven, Netherlands domain: energy · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2017 · investment: — https://www.differ.nl/research/autonomous-energy-materials-discovery Jiageng Innovation Lab 嘉庚创新实验室 — Xiamen University / Fujian Province Xiamen, China domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2019 · investment: Provincial https://www.ikkem.com/ Shanghai AI Laboratory — National AI Lab Shanghai, China domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: Government https://www.shlab.org.cn/ DeepH (Duan Group) — Tsinghua University Beijing, China domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: — https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095927324004079 SurFF / Uni-MOF (Wang Group) — Tsinghua University Beijing, China domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: — https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-025-00839-0 Jensen Lab — MIT Cambridge MA, USA domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2018 · investment: Science 2023: 312 molecules https://jensenlab.mit.edu/ Cronin Group / Chemify — U Glasgow Glasgow, UK domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2018 · investment: Chemify (startup) https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/ Grzybowski Group / IBS-CARS — UNIST + Polish Acad. Sci. Ulsan, Korea domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2021 · investment: Chematica/Synthia https://www.ibs.re.kr/eng/sub02_06_01.do MMLI / Burke Group — UIUC Champaign, USA domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: $20M+ (NSF) https://moleculemaker.org/ Hein Lab / Telescope — UBC Vancouver, Canada domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2019 · investment: Telescope Innovations https://telescopeinnovations.com/ Ley Group — U Cambridge Cambridge, UK domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: none · since: 2018 · investment: Flow + PAT pioneer https://ley.group.ch.cam.ac.uk/ Doyle Group — UCLA Los Angeles, USA domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2018 · investment: HTE + ML https://www.doylelab.com/ AURORA (KTH) — KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12067375/ CELEST Autonomous Battery Lab — KIT + Ulm + HIU Ulm, Germany domain: batteries · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: — https://www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2022_011_battery-research-first-fully-automatic-laboratory-starts-operation.php EPFL Self-Driving Lab (LIAC) — EPFL (ISIC / LIAC) Lausanne, Switzerland domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: — https://www.epfl.ch/labs/liac/ KIMS Autonomous Alloy Lab — Korea Institute of Materials Science Changwon, Korea domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: — https://www.kims.re.kr/?lang=en KIER Smart Laboratory — Korea Institute of Energy Research Daejeon, Korea domain: energy · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2026 · investment: — https://www.kier.re.kr/eng Matter Lab — University of Toronto / Vector Institute Toronto, Canada domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2017 · investment: — http://matter.toronto.edu IMDEA Materials SDL — IMDEA Materials Institute Getafe (Madrid), Spain domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: partial · since: 2022 · investment: — https://materials.imdea.org/ IPRD — Institute of Process Research and Development Leeds, UK domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2012 · investment: >£15M / 5 years https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/chemical-engineering-innovative-manufacturing-products/doc/research-spotlight-3 Swiss Cat+ — EPFL, ETHZ Lausanne, Switzerland domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: — https://www.epfl.ch/research/facilities/swisscat/ ODACell — Ångström Advanced Battery Centre (ÅABC) · Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden domain: batteries · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: — https://github.com/jyik/ODACell Aurora (Empa) — Empa (Battaglia Lab, Materials for Energy Conversion) Duebendorf, Switzerland domain: batteries · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: — https://www.empa.ch/econversion Ophelia (Empa) — Empa (Battaglia Lab, Materials for Energy Conversion) Duebendorf, Switzerland domain: energy · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: — https://www.empa.ch/econversion BEAR (Brown Lab, BU) — Boston University (Keith A. Brown / KABlab) Boston, MA, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: — https://www.kablab.org/ MAOSIC (CUHK-Shenzhen) — CUHK-Shenzhen / AIRS (Xi Zhu) Shenzhen, China domain: materials · maturity: prototype · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: — https://airs.cuhk.edu.cn/en/team/xizhu AI4Mat Initiative | Hip Lab — NTU Singapore (Kedar Hippalgaonkar) Singapore, Singapore domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2018 · investment: S$35M (MTI + Mat-GDT) https://www.ntu.edu.sg/mse/research/ai-for-materials-initiative ChemTech Lab — University of Nottingham (Connor Taylor) Nottingham, UK domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: £2M (RAEng fellowship) https://chemtech.dev/ MAITENA (CIC energiGUNE) — CIC energiGUNE Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain domain: energy · maturity: operational · ai: partial · since: 2024 · investment: — https://cicenergigune.com/en ======================================================================== COMMERCIAL PLATFORMS (33) ======================================================================== Cusp AI (Cambridge HQ) — Cusp AI (M. Welling co-founder) Cambridge, UK domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: $100M+ Series A · $520M val https://www.cusp.ai/ Cusp AI (Amsterdam node) — Cusp AI (Amsterdam Science Park) Amsterdam, Netherlands domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: Part of $520M val https://www.cusp.ai/ Lila Sciences — Lila.ai Cambridge MA, USA domain: drug-discovery · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: $550M https://www.lila.ai/ Medra AI — Medra, Inc. (Michelle Lee) San Francisco, USA domain: drug-discovery · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: $63M total (Series A Dec 2025) https://www.medra.ai Periodic Labs — Periodic Labs San Francisco, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: Undisclosed VC https://periodic.com/ XtalPi 晶泰科技 — XtalPi (HKEX) Shenzhen, China domain: drug-discovery · maturity: industrial · ai: strong · since: 2015 · investment: HK$47B pipeline https://en.xtalpi.com/ LabGenius — LabGenius London, UK domain: biology · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2019 · investment: Undisclosed VC https://labgeniustx.com/ Deep Principle 深度原理 — Deep Principle Hangzhou, China domain: drug-discovery · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: A2 round https://www.deepprinciple.com/ Qingkui 青葵智造 — Qingkui Yichang, China domain: chemistry · maturity: industrial · ai: strong · since: 2021 · investment: Municipal+VC https://www.quiktech.cn/ Yongjiang Lab 甬江实验室 — Provincial (Ningbo) Ningbo, China domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2021 · investment: Government https://www.ylab.ac.cn/en/ DP Technology / Bohrium 深势科技 — DP Technology Beijing, China domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2018 · investment: VC https://www.dp.tech/en ByteDance Seed AI4S — ByteDance Beijing, China domain: drug-discovery · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: Corporate https://seed.bytedance.com/en/direction/ai_for_science Novartis MicroCycle — Novartis Basel, Switzerland domain: drug-discovery · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: Internal https://www.novartis.com/stories/new-drug-manufacturing-tools-change-pharma-chemistry Chemspeed / SciY — Bruker Füllinsdorf, Switzerland domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 1998 · investment: Public (BRKR) https://www.chemspeed.com/ Fraunhofer MAPs — Fraunhofer ISC Würzburg, Germany domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2020 · investment: €20M https://www.isc.fraunhofer.de/en/fields-of-activity/applications/digital-transformation/maps-materials-acceleration-platforms.html Emerald Cloud Lab — ECL South San Francisco, USA domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2015 · investment: Undisclosed VC https://www.emeraldcloudlab.com/ Ginkgo Bioworks — Ginkgo Boston, USA domain: biology · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2015 · investment: $786M raised https://www.ginkgo.bio/ CMU AI Science Foundry — Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh, USA domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: Federal+Univ https://ai-science-foundry.cmu.edu/ Strateos — Strateos San Diego, USA domain: drug-discovery · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2013 · investment: VC https://strateos.com/ Kebotix — Kebotix Cambridge MA, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2017 · investment: $23.7M Series B https://www.kebotix.com/ Arctoris — Arctoris Oxford, UK domain: drug-discovery · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2018 · investment: ~$15M https://www.arctoris.com/ Culture Biosciences — Culture Bio South San Francisco, USA domain: biology · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2019 · investment: $107M https://www.culturebiosciences.com/ Hamilton Company — Hamilton Reno, USA domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: none · since: 1980 · investment: Private https://www.hamiltoncompany.com/ Opentrons — Opentrons Labworks Brooklyn, USA domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2014 · investment: $261M raised https://opentrons.com/ Tecan Group — Tecan (SIX: TECN) Männedorf, Switzerland domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: partial · since: 1995 · investment: Public (SIX) https://www.tecan.com/ Peak Analysis & Automation — PAA (Grenova) Farnborough, UK domain: cross-domain · maturity: operational · ai: partial · since: 1992 · investment: Private https://paa-automation.com/ Radical AI — Radical AI (Gerbrand Ceder, CSO) New York, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: $55M seed (2025, RTX + NVIDIA) https://radical-ai.com Mattiq — Mattiq (ex-Northwestern, Mirkin) Chicago, USA domain: materials · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: ~$35M https://mattiq.com Dunia Innovations — Dunia (GigaLab, Berlin) Berlin, Germany domain: energy · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: €10.6M seed · €280M GigaLab https://dunia.ai ChemLex — ChemLex (Sean Lin) Singapore, Singapore domain: drug-discovery · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2022 · investment: $45M (2025, Granite Asia) https://chemlex.com MegaRobo 镁伽科技 — MegaRobo Technologies Beijing, China domain: cross-domain · maturity: industrial · ai: partial · since: 2019 · investment: ~$300M (Series C/D) https://en.megarobo.com/ FutureHouse / Edison Scientific — FutureHouse (nonprofit) + Edison San Francisco, USA domain: biology · maturity: prototype · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: $70M (Edison, 2025, ~$250M val) https://www.futurehouse.org/ SOLVE Chemistry — SOLVE Chemistry Ltd London, UK domain: chemistry · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: £4M https://www.solvechemistry.com/ ======================================================================== LAB OS / ORCHESTRATION (11) ======================================================================== Automata (LINQ) — Automata London, UK domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: $45M Series C https://www.automata.tech/ Benchling — Benchling San Francisco, USA domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2014 · investment: $412M · $6B val https://www.benchling.com/ Artificial — Artificial London, UK domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2018 · investment: Undisclosed https://www.artificial.com/ Synthace — Synthace London, UK domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2014 · investment: Undisclosed https://www.synthace.com/ Unchained Labs (Stuntman) — Unchained Labs Pleasanton, USA domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2016 · investment: Undisclosed https://www.unchainedlabs.com/ UniteLabs — UniteLabs Munich, Germany domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: Undisclosed https://unitelabs.io/ Cenevo (Titian + Labguru) — Titian + Labguru merger London, UK domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2025 · investment: Undisclosed https://www.cenevo.com/ HighRes + Opentrons — HighRes Biosolutions × Opentrons Beverly, USA domain: orchestration · maturity: prototype · ai: strong · since: 2005 · investment: Partnership https://highresbio.com/ Atinary — Atinary Lausanne, Switzerland domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2019 · investment: Undisclosed https://atinary.com/ ABB Robotics — ABB Zürich, Switzerland domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2023 · investment: Public https://new.abb.com/products/robotics QPillars — QPillars GmbH Zurich, Switzerland domain: orchestration · maturity: operational · ai: strong · since: 2024 · investment: — https://qpillars.com/