The four Agri-Tech Centres of Agricultural Innovation are the result of a unique collaboration between UK Government, academia and industry to drive greater efficiency, resilience and wealth across the agri-food sector. A £90 million investment from the UK’s strategic innovation agency, Innovate UK, is enabling the four centres to harness leading UK research and expertise as well as build new infrastructure and innovation.
In 2019, Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), on behalf of Innovate UK, hosted a two-day event to promote the capabilities of the four Centres of Agricultural Innovation to ‘Transform Food Production’.
Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas, including those from the UK’s world-class research base. It connects businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth. It also funds business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R&D. Its support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions.
Agri-EPI Centre is accelerating the adoption of precision agriculture and engineering technologies to boost productivity across the whole agri-food chain. It does this by exploring how to optimise performance of the highly complex agricultural production and processing systems. The Centre provides world-class R&D facilities, connects academia and industry and progresses next generation technologies such as sensing, imaging and robotics to create a new understanding of production efficiency.
Agrimetrics provides, connects and analyses complex and fragmented data to drive greater productivity for agrifood businesses and deliver food sustainably.
Designed to make sure that the knowledge and insight from the UK’s science base is translated into benefits for farmers, growers and the food industry both at home and internationally. The government and industry believe that wider adoption of science and technological innovation is the key to unlocking the potential of farming by improving productivity and tackling problems such as soil erosion, adapting to climate change, managing the impact of pests and diseases, depleting natural resources, and providing environmentally friendly solutions.
CIEL works with 12 of the UK’s leading livestock research institutions and an active network of industry members spanning the entire food supply chain from farmers to processors and retailers. CIEL aims to use these collaborative partnerships to enhance and accelerate business-led innovation, as well as inspire and identify opportunities that could lead to the development of new products, services and techniques that can benefit the entire agri-food chain.
Registered office: Agri-EPI Centre Midlands Agri-Tech Innovation Hub, Poultry Lane, Edgmond Newport, England, TF10 8JZ
Company Reg. Number: 09922991
VAT Number: 240019456 (UK)