Funding opportunities: Agri-Tech and OLEV

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles and the government’s Agri-Tech programme both have funding opportunities available which could be suitable for AD developers and operators. Details can be found below.

Agri-Tech

The aim of the competition is to increase the pace and uptake of agricultural innovation by farmers in developing countries. The main aims are as follows:

• a sustained reduction of poverty and hunger for smallholder farmers
• a sustainable intensification in developing country agriculture
• improvements in human health and diversity in diets and nutrition
• a positive impact on rural income and food security
• opportunities for trade in agricultural products

The projects costs should fall into the following categories:

• £150,000 to £400,000 for early-stage technical feasibility studies, lasting 12-18 months.
• up to £1.5 million for industrial research, lasting up to 3 years.
• up to £800,000 for late-stage experimental development, lasting 12-18 months.

The deadlines are as follows for registering and applying:

You must register before noon on:

• 26 October 2016 for the expression of interest stage of the industrial research award category
• 25 January 2017 for the full-stage registration deadline for the early and late-stage awards

You must apply before noon on:

• 2 November 2016 for the expression of interest stage of the industrial research award category
• 1 February 2017 for the full-stage registration deadline for the early and late-stage awards

Further information can be found here.

Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trail funded by Office for Low Emission Vehicles, OLEV

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) are investing up to £24million to enable industry-led research trials and development for innovative vehicles or on-vehicle technology. This competition is mainly aimed ar freight, logistics, utilities sector and emergency services.

The competition for OLEV opening on the 11th July 2016 and has two streams.

• Stream 1 will fund projects to trial vehicles and on-vehicle technology in the real world, supporting small trail fleets of low emission vehicles and their refuelling/ charging infrastructure. These projects are expected to range in size of total costs from £500,000 to £5 million and last between 18 months and 2 years, with vehicle trials of at least one year.
• Stream 2 will fund projects to develop or trial innovative and disruptive on-vehicle technology, systems or business models that reduce emissions in the real world.  The projects in stream 2 are expected to last no more than a year and range in size of project costs from £250,000 to £5 million.

Those interested in applying for the funding should register before noon on 12th October 2016.

Funding opportunities for OLEV is £24 million. These funding opportunities can be found here.