The Technology Strategy Board, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Invest Northern Ireland, the Scottish Funding Council and the Welsh Government, are to invest jointly up to £2.3m to establish Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) to improve the competitiveness, resilience and responsiveness of the agri-food supply chain.

The aim of this initiative is to give businesses access to the UK knowledge base so that they can develop innovative solutions to global challenges facing the agri-food sector. We are looking to support up to 25 KTPs through this competition.

Its scope spans primary production, including aquaculture, through to retail. This competition will provide new opportunities for open innovation and knowledge exchange across supply chains and sectors. It will help companies to mitigate commercial risk and improve business performance – and to achieve growth as a result.

The Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC), Food Standards Agency (FSA),Medical Research Council (MRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) will also consider co-funding KTPs on an individual basis.

A KTP involves a partnership between a business, an academic institution (or knowledge base partner) and a recently qualified person, known as the associate.

We will fund part of the cost of running the KTP, with the level of that grant dependent upon the size of the company. The grant is paid through the academic partner. The competition opens for applications on 19 June 2014 and is open on a rolling basis for applications until 11 February 2015.

Further info: https://www.innovateuk.org/competition-display-page/-/asset_publisher/RqEt2AKmEBhi/content/agri-food-supply-chain