Within the Farmed animals and aquaculture SPARK Awards UK-registered educational establishments or Analysis and Expertise Organisations (RTOs) will obtain funding to collaborate with a Small/Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) to speed up the event of revolutionary merchandise, processes or providers for the UK farmed animal or aquaculture sectors.
On this competitors, as much as £200,000 of funding (£20,000 grant per challenge) is accessible for Farmed Animals and Aquaculture SPARK Awards. The funding is from Innovate UK Enterprise Join and delivered by the AgriFood staff.
Initiatives will begin on 2nd February 2026. Initiatives should end by 2nd November 2026.
Scope
Farmed animals and aquaculture SPARK Award initiatives should have an overarching purpose of accelerating the event of revolutionary merchandise, processes or providers, to drive sustainable manufacturing throughout the UK farmed animal or aquaculture sectors.
SPARK Awards will fund the challenge Lead, a UK-registered educational establishment or Analysis and Expertise Organisation (RTO), to ship a challenge to handle a problem held by the challenge Associate, a UK-registered Small/Medium-sized Enterprise (SME), in relation to their growth of revolutionary merchandise, processes or providers, or to boost their progress in direction of growing new revolutionary merchandise, processes or providers.
The UK farmed animal trade encompasses dairy, beef, sheep, pig, and poultry manufacturing. Equally, the aquaculture trade is a dynamic and rising sector, protecting salmon farming, shellfish cultivation, and revolutionary land-based techniques. Each sectors are supported by robust analysis, established greatest practices, and rising applied sciences and improvements, positioning them for sustainable progress and lowered emissions.
Initiatives ought to goal to drive sustainable manufacturing throughout the farmed animal or aquaculture sectors. Under are some areas which are lined by these awards, however this doesn’t exclude initiatives from exterior these areas:
- Breeding
- Well being
- Vitamin
- Precision agriculture utilized to farmed animals/aquaculture
Farmed animals and aquaculture SPARK Awards goal to construct collaborations between the analysis and enterprise neighborhood.
The Farmed animals and aquaculture SPARK Awards goal to provoke new initiatives and develop longer-term partnerships. Whereas the collaboration might exist already, the challenge funded by the SPARK Award is anticipated to be a brand new initiative.
Each companions should be instrumental in figuring out the necessity for the challenge and its design. The challenge actions can be delivered by the challenge Lead, the UK-registered educational establishment or Analysis and Expertise Organisation (RTO).
The challenge Associate, the SME, can assist within the supply of the challenge targets by finishing up associated and/or parallel actions, however they don’t seem to be required to ship any outlined actions underneath the remit of the challenge. As such, the SME will be unable to say funding for any work undertaken to assist the challenge targets.
There should be an outlined plan for the way the SME can be concerned within the exploitation or commercialisation of the challenge outcomes.
Initiatives should:
- speed up the event of revolutionary merchandise, processes or providers for the UK farmed animal or aquaculture sectors.
- both deal with a problem held by an SME in relation to their growth of revolutionary merchandise, processes or providers, or improve their progress in direction of growing new revolutionary merchandise, processes or providers.
- have an overarching purpose of driving sustainable manufacturing throughout the UK farmed animal or aquaculture sectors.
- be collaborative, led by one UK-registered educational establishment or Analysis and Expertise Organisation (RTO) (see right here for eligible RTOs), working alongside one UK-registered SME (see right here for definition of an SME).
We’re not funding initiatives that:
- are equine particular.
- contain wild caught fisheries.
- concentrate on insect manufacturing for human consumption.
- concentrate on companion animals.
- concentrate on plant, insect or algae manufacturing and not using a direct hyperlink to the event of revolutionary merchandise, processes or providers for the UK farmed animal or aquaculture sectors.
- comprise predominately of elementary analysis, literature opinions or market analysis, or are and not using a sensible factor.
- are carried out to something lower than the very best requirements of animal welfare.
Additional data
Obtain the SPARK Awards Competitors Transient (PDF).
E-mail any inquiries to agrifood@iukbc.org.uk, or to examine your challenge concept is in scope.
Easy methods to apply
Apply for a SPARK Award on Good Grants. The hyperlink to use for this funding alternative can be added to the Innovate UK Enterprise Join webpage earlier than this competitors opens for purposes on the twentieth October 2025.
Functions should be submitted by 11am GMT on twenty sixth November 2025.
You possibly can see different open funding calls in our Funding Finder.
