Funding for Business led Projects in Agri-tech and Food Technology: MFA (UK)

The aim of this competition is to support outstanding innovation projects led by businesses. Your business must be growing your innovation activities in the agri-tech and food technology cluster in Eastern England.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with Norfolk County Council, Suffolk County Council, Greater Lincolnshire LEP and the Greater Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to invest up to £2.5 million in innovation projects.

This funding is from Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme. The Launchpad programme supports the UK government’s goals for local economic growth.

The funding will support projects across two Launchpad competition strands that target the agri-tech and food technology innovation cluster in Eastern England.

The businesses will use the funding to grow their innovation activities in the cluster, both during and after the project.

For this competition, Eastern England consists of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership area, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Specific Themes

• Your project can focus on one or more of the following:
  • enhancing the productivity of primary crops, livestock, aquaculture or ornamental crops
  • biotechnologies related to agriculture, aquaculture, food processing and nutrition
  • food that promotes safe, lower carbon or more sustainable healthy and nutritious diets
  • resource efficient production and processing methods for low emission foods

Funding Information

• Your project’s grant funding request must be between £25,000 and £100,000.

Ineligible Projects 

• They are not funding projects that:
  • do not meet the competition eligibility or scope requirements
  • are aimed solely at equine markets
  • involve wild caught fisheries
  • involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture, or in agriculture; meaning the project must be undertaking research and development, the solution must be for exploitation by the wider business community and the funding cannot be used for capital asset acquisition
• They cannot fund projects that:
  • involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture
  • involve primary production in agriculture
  • have activities relating to the purchase of road freight transport
  • are not allowed under De minimis regulation restrictions
  • are not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance
  • are dependent on export performance, for example, giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • are dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, if they give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • have a total grant funding request between £25,000 and £100,000
    • last between 6 and 12
    • carry out all of its project work in the UK
    • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
    • not start before 1 April 2025
    • end by 30 June 2026
• Lead organisation
  • To lead a project your organisation must:
    • be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
    • not have previously been awarded funding from the MFA Round 1 competition for this Eastern England Launchpad
    • be growing your innovation activities in the agri-tech and food technology cluster in Eastern England
    • have a demonstrable ambition for business growth
• 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.
  • They expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. They will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
• Sanctions
  • This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions.

For more information, visit Gov.UK.