Digital Dairy Chain: Collaborative R&D and Growth Round 2 SIPF

To lead a project your organisation must:

• be either a UK registered business of any size or a UK farming business of any size
• be able to evidence that you are an established business, including sole traders and partnerships
• have a UK bank account
• be based in Cumbria, South or West Scotland or carry out significant economic activity in that region
• collaborate with other eligible grant claiming UK registered organisations

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be a UK based farmer or one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

Collaborations with Digital Dairy Chain research organisations are encouraged. These organisations are:

• Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC)
• University of Strathclyde
• University of the West of Scotland
• CENSIS, part of the University of Glasgow

A business can only lead on two applications within this competition but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.

If a business (or other organisation) is not leading any application, it can collaborate on any number of applications within this competition.

Your project must:

• have a total grant funding request between £50,000 and £250,000
• start from 1 October 2024
• end by 31 December 2026
• last between 6 and 24 months
• carry out at least 75% of its project work in Cumbria, South or West Scotland
• intend to exploit the results in Cumbria, South or West Scotland

Any awards given to primary agricultural producers are subject to the green box exemption under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture. Please see further guidance on green box subsidies here WTO Guidance for support in Agriculture.

Applicants receiving this type of support must ensure that there is minimal to no distortion of trade and comply with the requirements of Annex 2 of the Agriculture Agreement.

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

The aim of this competition is to support collaborative business focussed innovation in Cumbria, South and West Scotland. This is to support the transition to net zero and deliver improved productivity and sustainability in advanced and high value dairy production and manufacturing.

Your activities can solve challenges at any point in the dairy value chain, including dairy farming, milk transport and logistics, as well as the processing of milk and manufacture of other dairy products.

Digital Dairy Chain want to encourage socially inclusive innovation for individuals to contribute and benefit from economic growth in Cumbria, South and West Scotland.

We encourage projects that:

• provide solutions that tackle new or emerging needs
• demonstrate a realistic potential to support business growth, scale-up and job creation
• deliver benefit to Cumbria, South and West Scotland, as well as further afield
• enable academic researchers and Research and Technology organisations to collaborate with businesses to help further develop and translate research towards commercially relevant impact and wider societal outcomes
• develop novel approaches to monitor the effectiveness of products

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

• novel and high value products from dairy systems
• decarbonising dairy production and manufacturing
• waste minimisation and resource recirculation
• reduced environmental impact and increased sustainability, for example, biodiversity, soil, air and water quality
• sensor development and digitisation to improve productivity, welfare of staff and animals, and product quality including nutritional characteristics
• value addition in the dairy supply chain

This list is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting.

We are not funding projects that:

• do not demonstrate potential to positively impact on the economy of Cumbria, South or West Scotland
• deal with plant-based alternatives to milk
• mainly install currently available technologies and involve minimal innovation
• only involve product testing of agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, feeds or additives

Digital Dairy Chain will hold an online briefing at 11am on Thursday 9 May: click here to register for a place.

If you would like help with finding a project partner, please contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Agrifood team.