Deadline Date: January 23, 2026
The Agricultural Bio-Innovation Partnership Programme, supported by the Technology Innovation Agency, an entity of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, invites funding applications to strengthen South Africa’s biosecurity, food security, and agricultural resilience through innovation across the bio-economy.
The focus areas are the submission of funding applications for Agricultural Bio-Innovation Partnership Programme projects to address recent biosecurity outbreaks and cross-cutting sectoral needs, strengthening South Africa’s biosecurity, food security, and agricultural resilience by supporting innovation across the bio-economy, responding to recent animal disease outbreaks given the current national and regional imperatives, development of new/emerging biosecurity technologies and processes, pilot demonstrations of smart, precision, and digital biosecurity innovations, late-stage innovation and technology transfer for outbreak resilience, and product and systems innovations for food and livelihood security.
This call supports projects that stimulate, intensify and exploit technological innovation to improve economic growth and the quality of life of all South Africans, with a strong emphasis on solutions addressing animal and plant biosecurity risks such as avian influenza, foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, rabies, and banana Fusarium STR4. Projects are expected to demonstrate novelty, localisation of core technologies, a clear path to commercialisation, and the capacity to execute, while delivering expected economic and/or social impact and aligning with the Decadal Plan and related government priorities.
Applicants must present viable, feasible, and sustainable business cases with proven, tested, and validated proof of concept at TRL 4 and above, supported by strong, transformation-focused consortia that include meaningful stakeholder collaboration, private-sector participation, co-funding or in-kind support, technology transfer, skills development, and socio-economic pathways.
Eligibility extends to South African citizens and recognised South African legal entities across public and private sectors, including industry associations, NGOs, NPOs, start-ups, SMMEs, research institutions, science councils, and higher education institutions, with primary technology development taking place within South Africa and compliance with all regulatory and briefing requirements.
For more information, visit Technology Innovation Agency.
