This is a pre-annoucement for a call due to open autumn 2023. Apply for funding with BBSRC and Innovate UK to establish and lead an Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) to support research and innovation into more sustainable alternative proteins.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.
Industry support and contributions are required and can be either in cash, in kind or both.
This is a single award for five years running from 2024 to 2029.
For more information about the opportunity and to network with others in the community you can join the Alternative Proteins IKC workshop on Thursday 26 October 2023.
Register your interest to attend the workshop by 28 September 2023 via the link below 🖊️: https://lnkd.in/eN47ig84
More information will be annouced in due course.
The Opportunity
The UK hosts a world-leading science base and alternative protein industrial sector, which together lay the foundations for the UK to become a world leader in the alternative protein field. To ensure the UK capitalises on its cutting-edge research and innovation potential across the alternative protein industry, investment from BBSRC and Innovate UK to develop an Alternative Proteins Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) will bring together the community to address research and innovation challenges spanning discovery research and pre-competitive opportunities through to proof-of-concept and commercially-focused activities.
BBSRC and Innovate UK will invest to establish an IKC for five years, which will enable and support collaborative research partnerships between businesses and academic researchers to accelerate and promote business exploitation of the emerging and rapidly growing field of alternative proteins. The IKC will provide a nucleating point for the emergence and further growth of the alternative protein industry in the UK, by creating a knowledge-rich environment in which business can collaborate with academics and other businesses to create the next generation of alternative protein products and technologies as they emerge from the science base.
An IKC model enables a simultaneous focus on furthering world-leading research whilst also catalysing the commercialisation of emerging technologies. It creates early-stage critical mass in an area of disruptive technology and helps to establish internationally competitive research capability that is allied to innovation-focused solutions. Based in a University, an IKC is led by an expert team with an entrepreneurial spirit and strong support from industrial partners.
Scope
Establishing an Alternative Proteins IKC that is focused on industrially relevant discovery research through to commercialisation will provide an opportunity and nucleating point for the breadth of the alternative protein research base and industrial communities, as well as broader stakeholders, to engage, collaborate and drive the area forwards for UK competitive advantage. In line with this, it is expected that the IKC strategy and activities will encompass the following areas:
- cultivated meat
- fermentation systems for algal, bacterial or fungal fermentation
- plant based alternative proteins
- novel aquaculture systems
- new food production systems including insect production, seaweed cultivation and other alternatives to traditional animal production systems
Whilst the Alternative Proteins IKC will be expected to provide opportunities across the breadth of the alternative protein sector, it should focus on addressing specific shared research and innovation challenges. Examples of possible strategic focus areas for the Alternative Proteins IKC include:
- ingredients or feedstocks and inputs
- production and processing
- final product development
- best practice
Further details on possible focus areas within each of these strategic themes can be seen on the funding call website.