Develop new and efficient ways to produce food – share of £20m available

Businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million to support ambitious projects developing new and more efficient ways to produce the UK’s food.

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, has up to £20 million from the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to invest in large-scale and ambitious projects that help UK food production break out of a traditional land-based model and move towards a sustainable position of net-zero emissions.

Competition deadline

The competition is open and the deadline for applications is at midday on 22nd January 2020.

Find out more and apply here.

Develop new integrated precision farming technology - share of £5m available

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £5 million to work with Chinese partners to develop new integrated precision farming technology and help achieve net-zero emissions. 

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (MoST) are each investing around £5 million in innovation projects. Innovate UK will fund the UK partners and MoST will fund the Chinese partners.

The aim of this competition is to encourage the use of data-intensive methods for commercial farming. Your project must be business-led and aim to develop one or both of the following:

• autonomous technologies (sensors, systems, vehicles and robotics)
• data-driven solutions to enhance productivity while reducing emissions

Your solution must have the potential to improve productivity and sustainability. It must lead to a significant reduction of emissions from agriculture, contributing to the target of net zero emissions from agriculture by 2040.

This funding is from the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Briefing event to help you apply

There is a briefing event in London on 5th November for those wishing to learn more about this funding opportunity. The event will also be shown as a webinar for those who can’t make it in person.

Competition deadline

Registration closes at midday on 15th January 2020 and the competition itself closes at midday on 22nd January 2020.

Find out more and apply here.

Further funding opportunities

For more funding options for your business, visit the ‘Funding and finance’ section of our website.