Diffblue, a provider of software development tools founded by researchers from the University of Oxford, has secured a £1 million grant from Innovate UK to enhance its offerings.

This funding will support Diffblue's involvement in the ITEA GENIUS project, which focuses on leveraging Generative AI for the software development lifecycle.

The GENIUS initiative is a multi-country collaboration involving industry leaders such as Siemens, Fraunhofer, and Philips, along with academic institutions like Ontario Tech University.

The project's goal is to improve manual software engineering efficiencies and promote AI technology adoption within the software industry.

Diffblue is partnering with King's College London, British Telecom, GoCodeGreen, and others to develop AI algorithms aimed at automating software tasks and enhancing quality in the software development lifecycle.

Peter Schrammel, CTO and co-founder of Diffblue, expressed excitement about the grant, highlighting AI's transformative impact on software development and its potential to enable enterprises to innovate more rapidly.

The funding will enhance Diffblue's reinforcement learning-based tools for autonomous test code generation, improving efficiency, accuracy, and scalability in software development.

Unlike traditional large language model solutions, Diffblue's technology employs reinforcement learning and code execution to enhance accuracy and minimize errors in generated tests.

The company's flagship product, Diffblue Cover, autonomously generates high-quality unit tests, automating a critical part of the software development lifecycle.

Diffblue's solutions reportedly allow unit tests to be written 250 times faster than a human developer, significantly improving overall code quality and productivity for clients like Citi and ING.

This automation aims to help development teams save time, reduce human error, and enhance software quality.

The GENIUS project includes collaboration with various industry leaders and research institutions from 11 countries, further solidifying its international impact.