Innovate UK (formerly known as the Technology Strategy Board), the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) are to invest up to £11 million in business projects that aim to improve the resource efficiency and resilience of the food and drink supply chain.
Following on from increasing concerns over the amount of waste created in the supply chain, the ‘Improving food supply chain efficiency’ competition seeks to help companies develop ‘innovative ways’ to:
- reduce the production of waste;
- use resources such as energy, water and raw materials more efficiently;
- improve the productivity of food manufacturing and processing operations; and
- improve the resilience of the food supply chain by making better use of resources and reducing environmental stresses on food systems.
The group has outlined that qualifying proposals must be ‘collaborative and business-led’, and will mainly be industrial research projects in which a business partner will generally attract up to 50 per cent public funding for the project costs, rising to 60 per cent for small and medium enterprises.
It is expected that the fund will help cover projects that have total costs of between £250,000 and £1 million, although Innovate UK has said that it may consider projects outside this range.
The two-stage competition will open for applicants on 13 October 2014, and the deadline for expressions of interest is 12pm on 3 December 2014.
A webinar briefing for potential applicants will be held on 15 October 2014.
The fund has been welcomed by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), whose Director General, Melanie Leech, said: “I am delighted the importance of the food industry has been recognised through this major new investment, which will allow businesses to collaborate to find industry-wide innovative engineering solutions, creating a more resilient and resource-efficient food and drink manufacturing supply chain.
“Through initiatives such as this fund and the development of the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University [which aims to improve manufacturing capability and efficiency and is set to fully open in 2017], industry will be able to unlock its growth potential and drive competitive advantage.”
Read more about the problems of the food supply chain.
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