Up to £2.5 million On Offer for Lincolnshire Agri-Food Businesses
Agri-tech and food technology businesses in Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland will be able to apply for grants totalling up to £2.5 million to support innovation and growth when the next round of the Launchpad programme for Eastern England opens.
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 will open 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:
CR&D:
MFA:
Notes for editors:
About Innovate UK Launchpads
- The Innovate UK Launchpad programme is aimed at strengthening place-based innovation and supporting emerging clusters of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in parts of the UK. Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation.
- The Launchpad programme launched in 2022, with an initial £15m investment to fund pilot programmes in the Liverpool City Region and Tees Valley. Following this the programme has been rolled out to nine more regions around the UK, with up to £7.5m available in each region.
- Each Launchpad supports a geographic cluster of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing innovation funding, support, and networking opportunities to help SMEs to innovate, grow and scale their businesses.
- A Launchpad addresses key challenges facing SMEs in the cluster, supports businesses on their innovation projects and helps them to contribute to a supportive ecosystem.
- Types of support offered can include funding for research and development, access to innovation specialist support, and opportunities to network and collaborate. Launchpads will enable the development of new products or services and the testing and validation of innovations by Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs).
- To be eligible within an Innovate UK Launchpad competition, SMEs must be based in the UK and be able to demonstrate a strong potential for growth and innovation. They must also be growing their innovation activities in the Launchpad’s named cluster, with an opportunity to support economic growth in the local area.
About the Greater Lincolnshire LEP
- We are a strong partnership of private, public and education leadersdriving positive economic growth across Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland.
- We areimproving the lives and opportunities of communities and businesses in Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland.
- We are 180+ leaders harnessing our economic ambitions for Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland.
- We champion Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland as a place to live, work, play and invest.
- We are the voice for business and we champion our four game-changing sectors:
- Ports and logistics and the Humber Freeport
- UK Food Valley
- Clean energy
- Defence and security
- We also work across the manufacturing, visitor economy and health and care enterprise sectors, and work on employment and skills, innovation and business support
- We work with investors in our area, support business growth and help businesses to develop the skills they need.
- We work with schools and businesses to develop strong careers programmes that reflect local opportunities.
- We set out what Greater Lincolnshire needs to grow its economy and we secure and deliver funding from Government for our area.
- We cover an area including North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, Rutland and the administrative county of Lincolnshire.
- To find out more visit http://www.greaterlincolnshirelep.co.ukor follow us on Twitter @greaterlincslep, Facebook or Linkedin.
LEP achievements
Since our creation in 2010 we have:
- unlocked investment worth £425 million for transformational schemes
- worked with 26,000 businesses across the Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub programme
- provided 19,000 hours of comprehensive support and advice to businesses through our Growth Hub
- awarded £13.7m in business grants through the Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub
- supported the Humber Freeport which has received government funding and endorsement for progression
- part funded the world’s largest offshore wind Living Lab and a 5G Testbed through our Clean Growth Accelerator Fund
- launched the nationally significant UK Food Valley with £70m invested in agri-skills and secured over £100m of new partnership R&D projects in the food and farming industry
- launched a Greater Lincolnshire Defence and Security Network
- created almost 4,000 jobs
- delivered 75 significant growth projects and programmes
- supported 10,500 learners through our projects and programmes
- worked across 116 schools and colleges through our Careers Hub
The Greater Lincolnshire LEP, New Anglia LEP and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority jointly developed the ‘Agri-Food in the Eastern Region: An Investment Opportunity’ in November 2021 to demonstrate the collective strengths of this partnership:
- Agricultural output of £5.1bn in 2019, a quarter of the English total.
- Food Chain supports more than 150,000 jobs across the region.
- 33% of England’s crop production including:
- 96% of sugar beet
- 57% English vegetables
- 45% English potatoes
- 31% English oilseed rape
- 30% England protein crops
- 30% English wheat
- 30% English ornamental plants and flowers
- 31% English seed crops
- 16% of English livestock production, worth £1.6bn in 2019
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