UK launches Agri-Tech Catalyst to support agricultural technology innovations

The UK Government has launched a new £70m Agri-Tech Catalyst to offer funding to support new agricultural technology innovations in the country.

The announcement was made by the Universities and Science minister David Willetts.

This development is part of the government’s recent UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies, which seeks to position the country at the forefront of the sustainable intensification of agricultural production.

According to the UK’s innovation agency the Technology Strategy Board, agricultural science and technology is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world and it is driven by increasing population, climate change, rapid development of emerging economies and growing geopolitical instability across shortages of land, water and energy.

Agri-tech is already a well-established and important sector in the country, the agency said.

Established by the Technology Strategy Board and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Agri-Tech Catalyst is expected to commercialise agricultural innovation, while filling the gap between the lab and the marketplace.

It will offer funding for collaborative projects taken up by businesses and researchers to develop solutions for tackling challenges in the agri-tech industry.

Funding for the Agri-Tech Catalyst includes an element aimed at contributing to international development.

The Agri-Tech Catalyst represents a new opportunity for investors and businesses to become part of an emerging and productive sector that is said to have huge potential for growth.

It will help innovate all the way from concept to commercialisation, while awarding grants for early-stage pre-industrial research feasibility studies, industrial research, and late-stage pre-experimental and experimental feasibility studies.

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Image: The Agri-Tech Catalyst will offer funding for collaborative projects taken up by businesses and researchers to develop solutions for tackling challenges in agricultural technology. Photo courtesy of Kate Hayter.