Farming Innovation Programme: Small R&D Round 4 Consortia Building Webinar

If you have a new farming product or service that could improve farming productivity, sustainability or resilience in England and you want to find out about funding available to develop it, this webinar is for you.
When

18/09/2025 09.00 - 11.00
Location

Online
Register for this event

Who is this event for?

Are you a business, research organisation, farmer or grower interested in funding to develop a new farming product or service? Could your innovation improve the productivity, sustainability, and resilience of agriculture in England and benefit the environment? Do you need to find expertise and resources to build your project idea and team?

This online event is designed to support potential applicants in finding collaborators while gaining valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of agricultural innovation.

Join us to learn more about the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) Small R&D Partnerships Round 4 funding competition and how it can help bring your ideas to life.

What is the funding for and where does it come from?

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £7.8m for Small R&D Partnership projects, as part of the Defra Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. This competition is open to collaborations only.

To lead a project your organisation must:

  • be a UK business of any size and be able to evidence that you are an established commercial business, including sole traders and partnerships
  • collaborate with other UK registered organisations
  • be or work with at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME)

Your collaborative research and development project can be up to 30 months in length, with total project costs of between £1m – £3m.

This programme is designed to empower farmers, growers, businesses, and researchers to engage in collaborative research and development initiatives that help to solve real-word challenges. Funded projects are expected to exploit opportunities to enhance productivity, resilience and promote environmental sustainability within England’s agricultural and horticultural sectors. While the focus is on England, organisations from other parts of the UK may participate as project partners or subcontractors, subject to the full funding eligibility and scope criteria.

Collaboration between farmers, researchers and businesses across the supply chain is encouraged. We believe that by working together you can develop the solutions and improvements needed to meet environmental and industry challenges.

Competition opens: 15 September 2025

Competition closes: 5 November 2025 11:00am

Click here to view a pre-recorded briefing about the competition from Innovate UK >

Click here to view the full competition details >

Why attend?

Collaboration between farmers, researchers and businesses across the supply chain is encouraged. We believe that by working together, you can develop the solutions and improvements needed to meet environmental and industry challenges. By attending this webinar you’ll get to:

  • Meet potential partners to work on a collaborative project and apply for funding together.
  • Find out more about the scope and eligibility criteria directly from the funders.
  • Learn about the application process.
  • Understand what makes a good application and get advice from previously successful applicants.

Join our Farming Innovation Programme: Finding Information and Partners Group on LinkedIn >

Accessibility and Inclusion

We are committed to ensuring our events are accessible for all.

If you experience any barriers to registering, for any reason, please contact us by email: enquiries@iukbc.org.uk or phone: +44 03333 403250 and we will support your registration

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