Growing Kent & Medway has awarded vouchers worth £320,000 to 13 businesses to work with researchers to advance sustainable innovation in plant-based food production.
The vouchers will fund a range of projects, from product reformulation to help plant-based ice cream cope with temperature fluctuations, to testing innovative processing techniques to prevent separation in plant-based milks.
The Business Innovation Vouchers allow organisations to draw upon the expertise of technical specialists based at three research institutes in Kent and Medway. Applicants had to propose an innovative idea to help make their products, processes or production more sustainable. The competition was open to businesses across the horticulture and plant-based food and drink industries.
Other winning projects include developing a method for testing the health claims of mushroom-based health products, alternative sustainable materials for fresh produce packaging, and novel techniques for producing non-alcoholic wines.
Dr Nikki Harrison, Director, Growing Kent & Medway, said: “The projects we have funded demonstrate innovative thinking to tackle challenges across the plant-based food supply chain.
“Evidence shows that organisations investing in innovation are more resilient to market changes and are most likely to grow and succeed. We hope the access we are providing to the cutting-edge research facilities in the region through our voucher scheme will be the just start of their innovation journey. Their new partnerships with these research organisations could lead to new product development and help to create new market opportunities.”
Osama Rashed, Mochi Bros who successfully applied for funding, said: “We applied for the Business Innovation Voucher to help fund the critical research needed to make our innovative clean-label mochi commercially viable. Keeping the label clean, whilst maintaining stability and shelf life, has proven to be a difficult task for us, so we look forward to working with the team at the Medway Food Innovation Centre to find a solution.
“As a bootstrapped start-up we would not have been able to access the technical expertise required to undertake this project without the Voucher. We’re excited to get the project underway and look forward to bringing clean-label mochi to the masses!"
The vouchers awarded to each of the 13 businesses ranged from £15,000 to £30,000. The projects will last up to 12 months and could be used in collaboration with NIAB, University of Kent or University of Greenwich. Applications closed in January 2024.
To read the full list of successful projects, visit growingkentandmedway.com/news/business-innovation-voucher-winning-projects-2024/