Growing Kent and Medway: Collaborative Research and Development August 2022

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £2 million for business focused innovation in the horticultural food and drink supply chain. This funding is from Growing Kent & Medway, a UKRI funded project.

Opportunity Details

When

Registration Opens

05/09/2022

Registration Closes

19/10/2022

Award

You must request a grant of between £50,000 and £350,000 for your project; this can cover up to 40% of project costs in most cases.

Organisation

UKRI

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This competition is delivered on behalf of the Growing Kent and Medway (GKM) consortium, led by the National Institute for Agricultural Botany (NIAB). It is funded by the UKRI Strength in Places Fund to invest up to £2 million in innovation projects.

These projects will be to stimulate an uplift in the region’s economy through inclusive and innovation-led growth.

The aim of this competition is to support business focused innovation. Specifically, it aims to support transition to net zero, and deliver improved productivity and sustainability in horticultural food and drink production.

It focuses on:

  • horticultural production including the production of novel, high value compounds from plants
  • fresh produce packaging
  • food and drink processing
  • enabling technologies that underpin the supply chain

Your proposal must demonstrate the potential to positively impact on the economy of the Kent and Medway (K&M) area.

Any awards given to primary agricultural producers are subject to the green box exemption under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. Please see further guidance on green box subsidies here WTO Guidance for support in Agriculture.

Applicants receiving this type of support must ensure that there is minimal to no distortion of trade and comply with the requirements of Annex 2 of the Agriculture Agreement.

Eligibility

Your project:

  • must claim a grant between £50,000 and £350,000
  • can start by 1 May 2023
  • must end by 31 May 2025
  • must last between 12 months and 24 months
  • must carry out at least 75% of its project work in the Kent and Medway (K&M) area
  • must intend to exploit the results from or in the K&M area

To lead a project your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business of any size
  • collaborate with other UK registered businesses, research organisations, public sector organisations or charities
  • include a minimum of 2 organisations in the consortium
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the K&M area

The lead organisation must collaborate with at least one of the following research organisations or research and technology organisations in the K&M area:

  • NIAB
  • University of Greenwich
  • University of Kent
  • Canterbury Christ Church University

If a business leads a project, it can collaborate on a further two projects. Businesses can only lead on one application. If a business is not leading a project they can collaborate on any number of applications.

Academic institutions, charities and not for profit RO or RTO can collaborate on any number of applications.

Up to £2 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant. For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to 40% regardless of organisation size.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to support business focused innovation in Kent and Medway. This is to support the transition to net zero, deliver improved productivity and sustainability in horticultural food and drink production. This can include the production of novel, high value compounds from plants.

Growing Kent and Medway want to stimulate socially inclusive innovation so individuals can contribute and benefit from economic growth in the Kent and Medway area.

Your project must:

  • provide solutions that tackle new or emerging needs
  • demonstrate a realistic potential to support business growth, scale-up, and job creation
  • deliver benefit to the region as well as further afield

Your activities can solve challenges at any point in:

  • horticultural production including the production of novel, high value compounds from plants
  • fresh produce packaging
  • food and drink processing
  • enabling technologies that underpin the supply chain

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

Your project must focus on one or more of the following:

  • moving towards net zero carbon emissions targets
  • minimising waste and maximising recycling
  • improving resource use efficiency and sustainability
  • increasing productivity
  • resilient food production, for example: supply chain resilience, nutritional security
  • precision technologies, for example: sensor technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), robotics
  • addressing current and future labour shortages, supply or demand driven, within the K&M agri-food sector

An online briefing event will be held at 11.30am on Tuesday 13th September: click here for the joining link.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact the Growing Kent & Medway Team: contact@growingkentandmedway.com . Innovate UK KTN’s Agrifood team may also be able to assist.

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