Food and Drink Federation Welcomes Funds to Give Food Businesses Access to UK Knowledge Base

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has welcomed the recent announcement from the Technology Strategy Board to invest up to GBP 2.3 million to establish Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) to improve the competitiveness, resilience and responsiveness of the agri-food supply chain.

With the ongoing challenges the industry faces to produce more from less, the aim of this initiative is to give food and drink businesses access to the UK knowledge base so they can develop innovative solutions to create a more sustainable and competitive food supply chain. These solutions will include: innovation for consumer health, well-being and choice; improving productivity, resource efficiency and resilience in the supply chain and assuring safety and security across the supply chain.

The agri-food KTP is open for applications starting 19 June 2014, and is open on a rolling basis for applications until 11 February 2015.

“The availability of GBP 2.3 million to fund Knowledge Transfer Partnerships presents an exciting opportunity for food and drink businesses. Building on efforts to grow food engineering capability in the UK through the MEng food engineering degree and the development of a Centre of Excellence in Food Engineering, this investment presents yet another opportunity to drive innovation in our sector,” said Angela Coleshill, director of competitiveness at the Food and Drink Federation.

“To help food and drink businesses understand how to access this funding, Sheffield Hallam University will host a breakfast briefing on 8 July with the Technology Strategy Board's regional KTP Advisor. I encourage all ambitious food and drink companies to come forward and propose new, innovative ways of working,” she concluded.