Advice | Call | Competition | Funding | grant funding | Innovate UK | IUK
17th August 2018
Productive and Sustainable Crop and Ruminant Agricultural Systems | Opens 20 August 2018 | Deadline 24 October 2018 | UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million to improve productivity and sustainability across UK crop and ruminant production systems.
Overview
UK Research and Innovation, through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, will invest up to £20 million in innovation projects. These must improve productivity and sustainability by developing enhanced decisions support, precision agriculture technology solutions and systems for crop and ruminant agriculture.
Scope
Your project must fall into one of the following themes:
- driving productivity and improved environmental outcomes in crop and ruminant production systems
- developing new, highly efficient, high-value production systems that maximise productivity and improve environmental performance.
- Competition
It must focus on the development of enhanced decision support, precision agriculture technology solutions and systems. This includes:
- combining digital technologies and engineering solutions with biological, environmental and/or social science to drive productivity
- developing technologies and solutions that connect farms and supply chains
- transferring technology from another sector into agriculture, providing this requires innovation
Projects must support the overall Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s ‘transforming food production’ goals. These are to:
- boost the efficiency and productivity of UK agricultural systems
- embed sustainable food production with improved environmental impacts, including enhancing biodiversity, soil and air quality, and reducing emissions, pollution and waste
- create growth and increase exports of agricultural technologies
Further Requirements:
- must have a clear route to market for technologies and solutions
- must develop an optimised prototype that can be demonstrated by the end of the project
Eligibility
To be eligible for funding you must:
- be a UK based business, academic organisation, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
- carry out your project work in the UK
- exploit the results of your project anywhere in the world.
Collaborations must include at least one SME.
To lead a project you must:
- be a UK based SME if your project costs are under £100,000
- be a UK based business of any size if your project costs are over £100,000
- involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Funding Costs
UK Research and Innovation has allocated up to £20 million to fund innovation projects in this competition. The aim is to allocate:
- £10 million to productivity solutions
- £10 million to supply chain solutions
In this competition they will fund industrial research projects. You can claim funding for your eligible project costs of:
- up to 70% if you are a micro or small business
- up to 60% if you are a medium-sized business
- up to 50% if you are a large business
For productivity solutions total project costs can be up to £2 million. For supply chain solutions they can be up to £5 million. Projects must start by 1 April 2019, end by 31 March 2022 and can last up to 36 months.
Exclusions
Projects that cover the following, will not be funded:
- monogastric livestock and aquaculture projects
- forestry
- non-food crops
- wild capture fisheries
- amenity or ornamental horticulture
- equine