£16 million to support novel low-emission food production systems

Innovate UK and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have announced a new £16 million competition to drive forward novel, resource efficient, low-emission food production systems.

This new funding from the BBSRC and Innovate UK is a joint investment as part of their new strategic partnership announced last month. The partnership will support UK businesses to engage with and benefit from the UK’s excellent research base to grow and scale innovations.

As outlined in Innovate UK’s plan for action, the secure supply of safe, nutritious and affordable food supports good health. Changing consumer trends, ageing society and concerns over diet-related disease continues to drive changes to our diet.

This new competition will support the development of novel food production systems that create new sources of resource efficient, low-emission foods, particularly proteins to deliver healthy and sustainable diets.

The two organizations are welcoming proposals that have the potential to significantly shift the current state of the art in at least one or more of the following six priority areas. These include: novel plant based products or production systems; acellular food production; cellular food production; novel aquaculture systems; new food production systems; total controlled environment agriculture systems; low-emission food production systems

"This funding will enable UK companies to partner with our world-leading science-base to develop innovative, low-emission food production systems that meet rising consumer demand for products like alternative proteins," said Dr Tom Jenkins, Deputy Challenge Director for the Transforming Food Production Programme at Innovate UK. "Producing food in new environments can help take pressure away from traditional land-based systems while also supporting our transition towards net zero."

"This joint BBSRC and Innovate UK investment will support incredibly important capacity building, research, innovation and business-led commercialization to help develop alternative, more sustainable protein sources," added Dr Lee Beniston, Associate Director for Industry Partnerships and Collaboration at BBSRC. "This will help to ensure the UK continues to be at the forefront of what is an innovative and rapidly evolving sector in the UK and globally."

The new competition opens for applications on 18 January 2023. Find out more about the competition at: novel, low-emission food production systems: industrial research.