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Pot of funding available for food and drink firms

05/01/2009

Go-getting food and drink firms in the East Midlands are being urged to put themselves forward for a slice of £¼ million in grants that are available via the Food and Drink Innovation Network.

The Food and Drink iNet is aiming to inspire innovation in the region’s food and drink sector by encouraging businesses to turn new ideas into new business through the development of new technologies and products. It’s also hoping to stimulate new processes, services and ways of working in the industry to help boost the sector in 2009 and beyond.

Funded by East Midlands Development Agency (emda), the Food and Drink iNet is managed by a consortium, led by the Food & Drink Forum and including; the Food Processing Faraday Partnership, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Lincoln, and the University of Nottingham.

Now the Food and Drink iNet is looking for eligible companies to benefit from an Innovation Support Grant. Support valued at up to £10,000 is available per business, providing that 50% match-funding is given by the company in ‘cash’ or in ‘time’.

The money can be used to fund external expertise and knowledge to help manage innovation projects more effectively – giving businesses a route to some of the most up-to-date and comprehensive information available to help them kick-start their idea.

“We’re hoping to work with almost 100 food and drink companies in the region,” said acting director of the Food and Drink iNet Richard Adlington. “Indeed we have already started to award grants to firms that are coming forward with inspiring ideas.

“The food and drink industry is an important sector of the East Midlands economy, accounting for about 5% of the economy, and we are keen to encourage it to continue to develop and thrive. We would urge any small or medium-sized food or drink business that’s keen to innovate and has an idea of how they’d like to do that to get in touch with us to see if they’re eligible for support.”

The Innovation Support Grants are open to small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 250 employees. Their role is to help make a real difference to a company’s prospects, such as helping the development of a novel technology or process, or a new product, service or way of doing business.

“The ISG, which includes up to 10 days of innovation support, is aimed at companies with the potential to turn their new ideas into new business,” said Richard Adlington. “Through the ISG process we can help firms find the best resource to meet their innovation needs by searching through out network of specialist contacts.”

Mike Carr, Executive Director of Business Services at emda, which funds the Food and Drink iNet added: “In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that companies look at developing new products, processes and services. The Innovation Support Grants provide businesses with a cost effective opportunity to investigate and exploit innovative new ideas that will give them a competitive advantage.”

The Food and Drink iNet is based at Southglade Food Park, Nottingham, and covers Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland.

For more information contact the Food and Drink iNet on 0845 521 2066 or visit www.foodanddrink-inet.org.uk

Ends

Notes to editors:

For more information please contact acting Food and Drink iNet director Richard Adlington on 0845 521 2066.

The Food and Drink Innovation Network (iNet) is one of four being developed by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and East Midlands Innovation - the regional Science and Industry Council. The aim of the iNet is to bring together partnerships of regional businesses, universities, the public sector and innovative individuals to drive the successful exploitation of new ideas.

Food and drink is the largest of the manufacturing sub-sectors in the East Midlands. It accounts for 5% of the region’s economy and just over 3% of employment in the region.

The food and drink sector was identified by emda in the development of its Regional Economic Strategy, as one of four priority sectors in the East Midlands that are likely to make the greatest contribution to the East Midlands’ economy.  The food and drink sector in the East Midlands is also anticipated to grow more rapidly than nationally during the period to 2014. The forecast is for output growth of around 30% compared to 9% for the UK.

Based at Southglade Food Park in Nottingham, The Food & Drink Forum is leading on the delivery of the iNet. It is leading a consortium of partners with expert sector knowledge. They are the Food Processing Faraday Partnership, which provides a unique Knowledge Transfer Network, and the Universities of Nottingham, Lincoln and Nottingham Trent with their extensive expertise in food science and emerging technologies.

For more details about East Midlands Development Agency (emda) visit www.emda.org.uk

Press release issued by Louise Duffield, Perfect 10 PR
T. 0115 8462953
M. 07787 552647
E. louise@perfect10pr.co.uk