Agri-tech and food technology businesses in Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland can apply for grants totalling up to £2.5 million to support innovation and growth in the latest round of the Launchpad programme for Eastern England.
A partnership of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council and the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority is working in partnership with Innovate UK under the Launchpad.
The programme allows small and medium enterprises (SMEs) working in the region to apply for competitive grants for R&D and innovation projects that focus on agri-tech and food technology.
It will offer a share of up to £2.5 million in two strands:
- MFA (Minimal Financial Assistance): funding requests between £25,000 and £100,000 for projects lasting from six to 12 months
- CR&D (Collaborative Research & Development): funding requests between £150,000 and £300,000 for projects lasting from six to 18 months.
The competition opened on Monday 23rd September and will close at 11am on Wednesday 6th November. Applicants should be notified on Thursday 12th December.
To be eligible, businesses must be growing their innovation activities in the agri-tech and food technology cluster in Eastern England, and projects must contribute to growing innovation activities in the cluster, both during and after the project.
Projects can focus on one or more of the following:
- enhancing the productivity of primary crops, the bioeconomy, livestock, aquaculture or ornamental plants
- biotechnologies related to agriculture, food and nutrition
- food that promotes safe, healthy and nutritious diets
- resource-efficient production methods for low-emission foods
Businesses applying for grant funding must be able to demonstrate how their project will grow their innovation activities in Eastern England, including Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland, Norfolk, Suffolk or Cambridgeshire.
“We warmly welcome this latest round of Launchpad funding, which provides really useful support to businesses looking to research and innovate in the agri-food sector,” said Sarah-Louise Fairburn, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP’s Food Board.
“We worked hard to secure one of Innovate UK’s 11 Innovation Launchpads in the country for the Eastern England food and agritech sectors, and it’s been very pleasing to see grants allocated and innovative projects taking off.
“I would urge businesses in the Greater Lincolnshire agri-food sector to strongly consider applying for grants as we work to establish the UK Food Valley as a top 10 global food cluster.”
Two high-tech agricultural businesses in Greater Lincolnshire have recently benefited from Launchpad funding.
An automated blueberry harvesting project led by Eyre Trailers in Coningsby, in partnership with the University of Lincoln, secured a grant of £299,693 earlier this year to develop and demonstrate a fully automatic machine for harvesting blueberries, one of the UK's most important soft fruit crops.
The proposed machine will be fully automatic and will feature new berry removal and bush gripper systems. It will be designed to remove berries from the bush by the use of innovative shaking systems and should be available for widescale deployment by UK growers in 2025.
Meanwhile a daffodil harvesting scheme led by Autopickr in Cambridge with Lincolnshire grower C Wright and Son in Gedney as a partner received a grant of £299,985 this year.
To combat shortages of labour and high labour costs the project will develop a multi-functional robotic platform capable of horticultural tasks that cannot be automated using simple machines like tractors or harvesters.
The daffodil picker will feature a sophisticated robotic arm, a platform weighing less than 45kg, and an artificial vision system to recognise picked flowers for the arm to collect and transport.
The Launchpad programme is funded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation. It is designed to build on innovation clusters around the UK that have significant growth potential and to deliver jobs, growth, and higher productivity.
To find out more and apply, please visit the following web pages:
