The Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) Agri-Food team are organising a free consortia-building workshop to promote the UK-Colombia Agri-Tech Catalyst Competition, aiming to enable UK and Colombian partners to address agricultural challenges in post-conflict and conflict-affected regions in Colombia.

The aim of this workshop is to enable potential applicants to get a better understanding of the competition process, rules and scope. The workshop is also designed to help with networking and consortia building, and offers a great opportunity for delegates to pitch their capabilities to potential collaborative partners.

Representatives from InnovateUK and KTN staff will be present to address any queries related to the competition.

About the UK-Columbia Agri-Tech Catalyst

UK and Colombian businesses, not for profits and research organisations can apply for a share of £3 million to support the uptake of new technologies and innovations in the Colombian Agriculture sector, particularly by female smallholder farmers.

The Colombian Prosperity Fund Programme and Innovate UK will invest up to £3 million in innovation projects to address challenges facing the agriculture sector in post-conflict and conflict-affected regions of Colombia, through the Agri-tech Catalyst Colombia.

This competition aims to support inclusive growth in the Colombian and UK Agri-tech sector through the development of innovative technologies, products and services. It aims to help farmers in Colombia, particularly female smallholders, adopt innovations faster. This will help the country meet international development objectives in agriculture, including:

an improvement in the health and welfare of farmers, particularly female smallholders
sustainable intensification of Colombian agriculture
improvements in human health, and diversity in diets and nutrition
an improvement in rural income and food security
easier trade in agricultural products

Agri-tech Catalyst funding is available to UK businesses of any size, UK research organisations, and partners in Colombia.

Projects need to be collaborative and to include at least one UK and one Colombian partner. Research organisations from UK and Colombia can participate. Research organisations must follow this definition. Funding is also available to partners in Colombia for applications targeting relevant agriculture challenges. The lead organisation must be from the UK. The work needs to be carried out in the UK, Colombia or both.

For further details please refer to the InnovateUK website under “Funding Competitions”.

Key dates:

Call opens on 26th March 2018
Registration deadline midday on 18th July 2018
Call closes midday on 25th July 2018
Applicants notified 7th September 2018

More details regarding scope of the competition will be provided on the InnovateUK website under “Funding Competitions”.

In collaboration with CIAT, KTN is organising a partnering mission to Colombia for UK applicants. More details could be found here.

Event programme, subject to minor changes:

09:30 Registration

10:00 Session 1: Introduction and competition scope

10:00 Introduction to the workshop, Knowledge Transfer Network - Liliya Serazetdinova

10.10 Overview of the UK-Colombia Agri-Tech Catalyst Competition - Tom Jenkins / Ian Holmes / Competitions Team representative, InnovateUK

11:05 Overview of the key opportunities and needs of the Colombian agriculture, Andy Jarvis, Research Area Director, Decision and Policy Analysis, CIAT (via webcast)

11:30 Q&A to speakers

11:45 Refreshments

12:00 Facilitated networking activities

13:00 Lunch and networking

13:30 Session 2: Delegate pitches with project ideas, 12 pitches 5 min each

14:30 Session 3: What makes a good collaborative R&D project & Case studies

14:30 Case study 1 - Jacqueline Parker, Environment Systems, speaking about project funded by the UK Space Agency, EO4cultivar

14:50 Case study 2 - Dave Ross, CEO of Agri-EPI, speaking about international work Agri-EPI Centre

15:10 Q&A with CIAT about specific opportunities and needs of the Colombian agriculture (via webcast)

15:30 An opportunity for discussions and consortia building

16:30 Close

Who should attend?

The workshop aims to attract:

Technology providers, from any relevant sector. The Catalyst is designed to help take innovative ideas from any sector or discipline with the potential to benefit both the UK Agri-Tech industry and emerging markets, by tackling challenges in agriculture.

Researchers Involved in primary agricultural production, food security and nutrition challenges (both in commercial companies and research organisations) who could develop and/or be the “end users” of these technologies.

Companies with international supply chains. The scheme provides an opportunity for any international organisation who rely on primary production in Colombia.

Please note, to ensure an appropriate mix of delegates from different sectors, and across industry and academia, we are operating an “Expression of Interest system'. If you would like to attend this event, please complete the registration form and we will confirm allocation of places in one week prior event.

Further Information

More details about this event, including the full programme, will be available in due course.

Terms and Conditions

All best endeavours will be made to undertake the event as shown above. However, the event organisers reserve the right to alter or cancel, without prior notice, any of the arrangements, timetable or plans relating directly or indirectly to the event. The event organisers are not liable for any loss or inconvenience caused as a result of such alterations.

Places at this event are limited, so please register as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. The organisers reserve the right to limit the number of registrations per organisation.

Please do not book travel and accommodation prior the receipt of the confirmation of your place.

Consortia Building Workshop: Agri-tech Catalyst Colombia - Expression of Interest