Funding Competition: New Innovators in Agri-Tech & Food Technology, Mid & North Wales – UK

This funding is from Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme. The Launchpad programme supports the UK government’s goals in the Levelling Up White Paper.

The aim of this competition 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.

Innovate UK is offering UK registered small and micro businesses a share of the funding through this competition. In addition to the grant support, you will be offered tailored business support delivered by local business innovation experts and Innovate UK Business Growth.

Specific Themes

• Your project can focus on one or more of the following:
  • Productivity or nutritional content:
    • enhancing yields and other aspects of productivity of primary crops and feedstocks, livestock or aquaculture
    • resource efficiency, including novel approaches for precision farming, circular economy or biotechnologies
    • enhancing the nutritional content of produce
  • Food processing or markets:
    • novel foods that promote safe, healthy and nutritious diets
    • food manufacturing and processing, packaging, and safety
    • adapting produce to create new market opportunities
    • supply chain resilience and responsiveness; mitigating risks, interruptions or disruptions
  • Sustainability or biodiversity:
    • livestock health
    • approaches that reduce emissions, food loss and waste
    • regenerative approaches that could lower biodiversity loss or mitigate against resource scarcity.

Project Size

• Your project’s total costs and grant funding request must be between £25,000 and £50,000.

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • 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 November 2024 and 1 February 2025
    • end by 30 April 2025
  • Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.
• Lead organisation
  • 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.
• Subcontractors
  • Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.