Overview
This Innovate UK competition will invest up to £5 million to support late-stage agri-tech innovations progressing towards commercialisation and manufacturing readiness.
The focus is on closing critical technology gaps that prevent products from being proven in real-world environments and adopted by end users. Projects should improve product performance and reliability while advancing manufacturing capability and supply chain readiness.
This competition is particularly relevant for agri-tech businesses developing automation, robotics, and intelligent systems that can improve agricultural productivity and sustainability.
Scope
The aim of this competition is to enable Agri-tech innovators to advance their product performance and reliability and start development of their manufacturing and supply chain capability. Your project should aim to close technology gaps that prevent products being proven, demonstrated and accepted in end user conditions. This will promote commercial engagement and adoption to drive UK Agri-tech frontier industry growth and drive UK agricultural productivity and sustainability.
Your proposal must be a late stage project and demonstrate how it will develop your product to higher levels of performance, reliability and adoption readiness. You must also demonstrate how you will move your business, technologies and products closer to manufacturing readiness.
Key themes and topics
Projects must focus on one or more of the following:
- Technologies that enable automation to reduce labour demand and improve productivity and sustainability across agriculture, forestry, horticulture and aquaculture
- Automation and robotic systems and equipment
- Automated sensing, monitoring and intelligent decision-making systems
- Identification and resolution of manufacturing, engineering or regulatory challenges
- Approaches that accelerate commercialisation, attract investment and reduce time to market
- Technologies with clear farmer or grower demand and long-term market potential, including export opportunities
- Design and testing of mechanical, electrical, electronic and software systems for reliability and durability
- Design for manufacture and assembly
- Regulatory, safety and compliance testing (including food safety and electromagnetic compatibility)
- Development of software, navigation, safety and fleet management systems, including cyber security
- Integration with existing farm management systems and hardware
- Field, workshop and lab trials to validate performance, reliability and user acceptance
- Diagnostics, maintenance and support technologies
Projects will not be funded if they:
- Are early-stage or feasibility studies
- Focus on unproven concepts without defined technical gaps
- Lack a clear route to market
- Are equine-specific or related to wild fisheries
- Focus on pharmaceuticals, bioeconomy systems or fermentation for human consumption
Project duration
Between 6 - 12 months
Must start by 01 October 2026
End by 30 September 2027
Award value
Total project costs must be between £250,000 to £750,000
Funding rates
For industrial research projects, purposeful research that builds new knowledge and capabilities to improve products, processes or services, funding is available for eligible project costs of:
- up to 70% for micro or small organisations
- up to 60% for medium sized organisations
- up to 50% for large organisations
Research organisations can share up to 50% of the total eligible project costs
Eligibility criteria
- Projects must be collaborative and led by a UK registered business of any size
- Projects must include at least one grant-claiming SME
- Collaborators can include UK registered businesses, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations or RTOs
- Subcontractors must be preferably UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs
- All funded project work must be carried out within the UK
- Projects must intend to exploit results in or from the UK
- Subsidy control rules apply under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme
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