The Technology Strategy Board, together with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and Scottish Government, is offering up to £13m for businesses to develop engineering solutions across the agri-food supply chain.

This competition will draw on all facets of engineering science to advance the sustainable intensification of primary agriculture, and raise product quality and process efficiency in food manufacturing. We are particularly keen to encourage engagement with sectors such as space, ICT and electronics sensors & photonics, which may not have fully recognised opportunities that exist for applying technologies throughout the agri-food supply chain.

Project proposals must be business-led and collaborative. The TSB is primarily seeking to fund industrial research, with a business partner attracting 50% public funding for their project costs (60% for SMEs). The TSB expects most projects to range in size from £500k to £1.5m, with the maximum total project size being around £2m.

The CR&D competition is a two-stage process and opens on 23 September 2013. The deadline for submitting expressions of interest is at noon on 6 November 2013.

For more details, please visit the competition’s website, or contact Research & Income Generation Support at Research & Enterprise.