Agri-tech and food technology in Eastern England

To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered micro or small business.

If your business has been funded directly by Innovate UK previously, you are not eligible to be offered funding through this competition.

If you have only received funding directly from Innovate UK Business Growth (previously named Innovate UK EDGE) or a Catapult scheme, you are eligible to apply for this competition.

Businesses with directors who have previously received a grant or Innovation Loan from Innovate UK as part of a different company, are eligible to apply but will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

A business with a previous award to a parent or subsidiary would also be eligible to apply, but the parent company must be classified as a micro or small business. Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

If you apply to both strands, each project must be clearly distinctive and separate.

To lead a project your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size
• be or involve at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
• collaborate with other UK registered organisations
• be growing your innovation activities in the agri-tech and food technology cluster in Eastern England
• have a demonstrable ambition for business growth

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

A business can only lead on one CR&D application but can be included as a collaborator in any number of applications. Any subsequent applications submitted with the same project lead will be ineligible and will not be forwarded for assessment.

If an organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

If you apply to both strands, each project must be clearly distinctive and separate.

For the New Innovators strand, your project must:

• have a grant funding request between £25,000 and £50,000
• have total project costs that equal your grant funding request
• last between three and six months in duration
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• help to grow your innovation activities during and after the project in the innovation cluster described in the Scope section
• start between 1 October 2024 and 1 January 2025
• end by 31 March 2025

For the CR&D strand, your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £150,000 and £300,000
• last between 6 and 18 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• start between 1 November 2024 and 1 April 2025
• end by 30 September 2026

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

The aim of the New Innovators strand is to provide a package of targeted support to enable ambitious UK registered micro and small businesses to develop highly innovative ideas that have a clear route to commercialisation and business growth.

The aim of the CR&D strand is to support outstanding innovation projects led by businesses. Your business must be growing innovation activities in the agri-tech and food technology cluster in Eastern England.

For both strands of this competition, Eastern England consists of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership area, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Your project must contribute to growing your innovation activities in the agri-tech and food technology cluster in Eastern England, both during and after the project.

For both strands, your project can focus on one or more of the following:

• enhancing the productivity of primary crops, livestock, aquaculture or ornamental crops
• biotechnologies related to agriculture, aquaculture, food processing and nutrition
• food that promotes safe, lower carbon or more sustainable healthy and nutritious diets
• resource efficient production and processing methods for low emission foods

This list is not exhaustive. Where you can show your proposal fits within the scope of this competition you can focus on other themes.

For the New Innovators strand, a pre-recorded briefing will be available soon. There will also be a Q&A session on Tuesday 15 May, 10am-11:30am: register to attend.

For the CR&D strand, an online briefing event will be held on Thursday 9 May at 3pm: click here to register to attend. Briefing slides will be available to download from Supporting Information after the event.

For further support, or to find a project partner, you can contact Innovate UK Business Support’s Agrifood team.