Academics from universities across the UK have gathered at the beautiful University of Lincoln Riseholme Campus, home to LIAT (Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology), for the inaugural Ceres agri-tech bid development workshop.

The aim of the workshop was to help academics whose applications to the Lincam Ceres Agri-Tech and Agri-Tech Global April call had successfully passed the first review stage to develop their agri-tech innovations ready for pitching to the Ceres Agri-Tech Investment Committee in October.

The day was a great success with lots of positive feedback from attendees. Head of School and Director of LIAT Professor Simon Pearson gave an introduction to the Lincam and Agri-Tech Global programmes and Martin Collison, Greater Lincolnshire LEP Agrifood Advisor, gave an introduction to agriculture and horticulture in the East of England where agri-tech innovations must drive economic, environmental and social impact.

Ceres Director Louise Sutherland then explained the Ceres process to participants in detail and what makes a successful pitch. After a delicious lunch out on the sunny Riseholme terrace, the Ceres team were on hand to discuss projects and help participants develop a short non-confidential practice pitch, which they then pitched to the group followed by a short Q&A from a panel.

The event explained the Ceres process which is different from other research applications. While most academics are used to presenting their research to academic audiences, pitching to an investment committee made up of representatives across business requires a different approach and skill set with more commercial focus. The Ceres team is committed to guiding research teams through this process wherever their current experience level lies.

The day provided an opportunity to engage with other academics in different agri-tech related fields at the same stage in their commercialisation journey.  Now the hard work begins of working together to developing those translational research projects into slick investment committee-ready pitches and beyond.