THREE Scottish businesses have been chosen to share funding of £110,000 to foster innovation and growth in the food and drink sector, with projects selected including an innovative way to transport shellfish and producing biofuel from food waste.
Lobster Pod, Insignia Technologies and Agrico are each to receive £30,000 to £40,000 as winners in the Interface Food & Drink Innovation Competition.
The funding is to support them jointly working with leading academics, and comes via Interface Food & Drink, a five-year project funded by the Scottish Funding Council that promotes partnerships between businesses and academics to boost innovation through knowledge exchange, collaboration and funding.
Entrants were evaluated on criteria set by leaders from Scotland's food and drink industry, including supply chain efficiencies, cost and manufacturing effectiveness, energy and sustainability, new technologies, and setting up and developing new global market opportunities.
Lobster Pod is developing a system to transport live shellfish, making the supply chain more efficient by improving the shellfish's welfare and cutting transport costs. In collaboration with the University of Stirling's Institute of Aquaculture, the University of Glasgow's School of Medicine, Veterinary and Life Science and Scottish seafood business D R Collins & Son, the company, based in Dalgety Bay, Fife, will use the grant to assess the potential of this new system to support its development and effectiveness.
Fellow winner Insignia Technologies, based at Bio City Scotland, near Glasgow, has created labels indicating the quality and freshness of goods and products.
Working with the University of Strathclyde's Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, it is using its award to develop a system highlighting irregularities in the refrigerated and frozen supply chains, helping cut food waste.
Thirdly, Agrico and Hatton of Ogilvy Farms, near Forfar, have secured funding to work with Edinburgh Napier University's Biofuel Research Centre to use reject potatoes with a view to benefits including producing biofuel, cutting waste and potentially generating animal feed.
Partners from each winner are to start collaborations, lasting six to nine months and benefiting from experts in their fields to develop their projects. James Withers, chief executive of Scotland Food & Drink, said the standard of entries was "encouraging," also stating: "There is a need to nurture a culture of innovation to remain competitive within individual sectors and in the global marketplace."
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