Global Business Innovation Programme in New Zealand - Agri-Tech

The Global Business Innovation Programme is structured around three main stages and each business will have a designated Innovate UK Business Growth innovation & growth specialist to support them for at least the duration of the offering, including developing a work plan to capitalise on the opportunities identified. The three main stages of the Global Business Innovation Programme are

• Get ready: A two-day workshop to build knowledge and understanding of the market and potential opportunities, including how to do business, cultural aspects, how to protect your IP, and training on how to better articulate your value proposition.
• Visit the market: Explore the opportunities first-hand through meetings with key companies, research organisations, and potential collaborators and partners, through pre-arranged meetings and organised matchmaking.
• Exploit the opportunity: An exploitation workshop and one-to-one support from an Innovate UK Business Growth innovation & growth specialist to help you follow up and maximise the opportunities identified through the programme.

To apply for this programme, you must:

• Be a UK based innovation-led company with ambitions to grow and internationalise
• Be a company with fewer than 250 employees
• Be CEO, Founder or senior decision maker and able to attend and complete all activities

New Zealand boasts a rich heritage of agricultural excellence and a profound commitment to Agri-Tech development, harnessing the synergy of agriculture and technology to pioneer innovative solutions. Supported by a thriving start-up ecosystem and government policies conducive to growth, New Zealand prioritises collaboration with international partners, expanding reach and  leveraging global expertise. This GBIP will build on strong relationships already established by Innovate UK’s previous Agri-Tech GBIPs completed in 2022 and 2023.

In June 2024 the NZ Government and the Bank of NZ (BNZ) together committed a further $8 million, taking investments in AgriZeroNZ (NZ partnership organisation between government and major agribusiness) to $191 million towards reducing agricultural emissions.

The Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and New Zealand signed an agreement in 2022 aimed at enhancing R&D and innovation collaborations between the two markets. Furthermore, the free trade agreement between New Zealand and the United Kingdom is one of the most comprehensive agreements New Zealand has ever concluded.

2023 marked the formal signing of New Zealand’s Association Agreement to Horizon Europe and also the UK’s Association into the programme. Industry, innovators and researchers in the UK and NZ can now come together to be part of collaborations for agriculture funding calls through Horizon.

We invite applications from innovative companies actively developing new technologies for:

Emissions reduction for grassbased livestock systems

• Animal health, nutrition and genetics to manage the rumen and cut enteric methane production
• Remote sensing technologies and decision-making tools to drive efficient resource use and management
• Farm management and practices

Land and Soil Management

• Regenerative agricultural systems
• Crop and cultivation strategies
• Carbon capture and storage technologies

• Explore joint opportunities to do business with New Zealand
• Find potential innovation collaborators and partners
• Improve company value proposition to global partners and investors
• Understand potential funding collaboration through Horizon Europe

A recorded briefing is now available.

Applications close: 1st September 2024

Get ready Workshop : 15th – 16th October 2024

Visit the market : 21st November – 4th December 2024

Exploit the opportunity workshop : 27th February 2025