Agri-food Innovation in Turkey – The Newton Fund is now open

A small farm in Turkey.

Image credit: Yavuz Sariyildiz / Shutterstock.com

The Newton Fund

Innovate UK is to invest up to £1.5M for UK participants developing innovative solutions to tackle challenges within the agri-food sector in Turkey. Innovate UK is working with TÜBİTAK, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, to fund this competition, which they are running as part of the Newton-Kâtip Çelebi Fund programme.

Opportunity 1: The Challenge

The Turkish food and agriculture industry is one of the country’s biggest sectors. It corresponds to 7.1% of the GDP and a quarter of jobs in the country. The sector is strong and vibrant but with a lot of small farmers and limited cultivable land(1).

The call is seeking proposals for technical feasibility and industrial research into improving, the productivity of Turkish agri-food sector through waste reduction and treatment, plant and animal breeding, and technologies that could improve the efficiency of small holder farms.

The Newton Fund Call is now open, for more information about the call please click here.

Deadline: 22nd September 2016

(1) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/agri-food-innovation-in-turkey-apply-for-business-funding

Opportunity 2: Brokering Visit to Turkey

The Knowledge Transfer Network, on behalf of Innovate UK, TÜBİTAK and the British Consulate General, are organising a visit for UK stakeholders to visit Turkey. This aim is to help UK and Turkish participants interested in the challenge meet and develop collaborative partnerships. Innovate UK welcomes applications from leading UK businesses, research organisations and universities interested in participating in this visit. For more information about the event visit here.

Deadline: 5pm, 25th may 2016, to submit an application to be considered for the trip.

Further information

If you have any questions related to the visit, please get in touch with Dr Nee-Joo Teh (neejoo.teh@ktn-uk.org).

If you are developing a bid and would like KTN to assist with consortia building, or structuring a proposal, please get in touch with either me, or my colleagues in KTN's Agriculture Team.