Business Innovation Vouchers: Winning Projects Round One
- Growing Kent & Medway
- Feb 16, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 18
In 2022, we awarded £154,000 in research vouchers to 11 projects to support sustainable innovation in the food system.
Our first competition round for Business Innovation Vouchers ran in 2022. Applicants could apply for grant funding to subsidise access to the cutting-edge research facilities in the Kent and Medway region.
The vouchers enabled businesses to apply for funding of up to £15,000 to work with researchers to find sustainable solutions to key research challenges facing the sector.
A total of £154,000 was awarded to 11 successful projects, each addressing issues within the food system.
Sustainable Growing
Exploring the Links between Soil Microbiome and Carbon Sequestration
This project aimed to improve the understanding of the impact of soil microbiome on carbon storage in arable, pastural and orchard settings. A better understanding of the links between the abundance and diversity of microbials in soils and the storage of carbon could help improve the capability of soils to store carbon.
Industry lead: Verdant Carbon
Verdant Carbon is a soil sampling and analysis company, focusing on the determination of soil carbon in agricultural soils.
Research organisation: Niab
Grant value: £15,000
Sustainable Plant Fibres for Fashion
The fashion industry is currently reliant on unsustainable fibres, such as cotton.
Calyx is exploring the potential of producing plant-based fibres in a vertical farming system to improve the sustainability of the sector, with reduced resource use and inputs.
Industry lead: Calyx
Founded by Paul Cackett in 2019, Calyx are part of Kent’s growing landscape of vertical farming innovators.
Research organisation: Niab
Grant value: £15,000
Organic Fertilisers for Aeroponics
This project aimed to identify a suitable organically-derived liquid fertiliser for microgreens and to establish the optimum method of application in an aeroponic system.
Trials will determine whether the fertilisers have a positive effect on the phytonutrient and flavour properties of the microgreens. This would be the first time that organically-derived fertilisers have been tested with aeroponic growing systems and could enable growers to produce microgreens in an increasingly sustainable way.
Industry lead: Machere Ltd.
Machere grows micro herbs, greens, shoots and baby leaves in a controlled environment, using aeroponics. This year-round product is supplied to hospitality and independent retail customers.
Research organisation: Niab
Grant value: £15,000
Mapping Medway Horticulture to Support Water Resilience
Using machine learning to develop an improved spatial mapping of horticultural activity across Medway, the South East River Trust hoped to provide more targeted support for growers about water resilience and risks related to runoff.
The project aimed to identify specific horticultural crop areas in relation to different levels of risk linked to environmental degradation, such as run-off, flooding, and soil erosion. It would also highlight water availability and risks for crop irrigation.
Industry lead: South East River Trust
The South East Rivers Trust is an environmental charity with expertise in stewardship for rivers and catchments.
Research organisation: Niab
Grant value: £15,000
Marker-Assisted Breeding to produce Powdery Mildew Resistant Hop Cultivars
Powdery mildew is one of the most important diseases threatening UK hop production. An untreated epidemic of hop powdery mildew leads to significant yield loss and cone spoilage. This project aimed to develop a new process in order to tag and map the powdery mildew resistance gene to successfully breed new resistant varieties of hops.
Industry lead: Wye Hops
Wye Hops Limited, a subsidiary of the British Hop Association (BHA), is a plant breeding company based in Canterbury, Kent. Wye Hops develops hop varieties primarily for UK hop growers.
Research organisation: University of Kent
Grant value: £15,000
Reviving the British Hop Industry
How targeted place-based investment in research and collaboration is supporting the hop sector in Kent and Medway.
Food processing and manufacturing
Energy Efficient Drying for Safe and Sustainable Probiotic Fruit Snacks
To produce their probiotic-rich snacks, Fermenti use a freeze-drying process. This project explored alternative technologies to optimise their food processing and therefore decrease the amount of energy used in their production.
Industry lead: Fermenti
Fermenti combines traditional lacto-fermentation with freeze-drying technology to provide a pro and prebiotic fermented plant-based snack for adults and children.
Research organisation: University of Greenwich
Grant value: £12,000
Creating Gut-Friendly Snacks
Discover how Fermenti is using our support to transform fruit by-products into healthy, fermented treats.
Productive Supply Chains
Sustainable Soaker Pads for Raspberry Punnets
The plastic pad found in many fruit punnets helps to keep the fruit fresh. This project looked at the effectiveness of a recyclable novel punnet that will maintain and extend the quality of raspberries. If successful, this could help to reduce 3.6m sq meters of plastic a year.
Industry lead: Sharpak Aylesham
Sharpak Aylesham are based in Canterbury. They develop, manufacture, and market packaging solutions for the food service delivery, food to go, and catering market sectors.
Partner research organisation: University of Kent
Grant value: £4,400
Unravelling the texture of raspberries to reduce waste
Raspberries have a short shelf-life as the fruit can lose firmness, and the structure of the berry can disintegrate. This project aimed to select raspberry breeding material with improved texture quality to be bred into new varieties.
The hope is that the fruit can then be harvested over longer periods and last longer on both supermarket shelves and in consumers’ fridges.
Industry lead: Edward Vinson Ltd
Edward Vinson has been growing fruit for over 150 years in the South East of England. They focus on premium varieties, plants and berries and have a successful breeding programme.
Research organisation: University of Greenwich
Grant value: £15,000
Improving Low-Oxygen Controlled Atmosphere Storage for Gala Apples
In recent years, changes to how Gala apples are stored with lower oxygen have meant the time the produce can be kept increased from 7 to 10 months. However, there can be challenges with quality. This project explored improving the long-term, low-oxygen storage of Gala apples to extend the UK marketing season.
Industry lead: AC Hulme and Sons
AC Hulme & Sons is a family run mixed farm which has been operating in East Kent since 1946. Across three sites, they farm a diverse range of produce, including fruit, hops, arable, potatoes and livestock.
Research organisation: University of Greenwich
Grant value: £15,000
Energy Use in Apple Cold Stores
AC Hulme & Sons are using AI, sensors and data to improve the energy efficiency of their cold stores.
Health and Nutrition
The Potential Health Benefits of Nashi Gold Pear Hybrids
The Asian pear (Nashi pear) has different characteristics from European pears. Though they are not currently widely cultivated in the UK, they are well-suited for juicing. This project explored the bioactive and nutrient compounds in Nashi pear to understand their health benefits to explore new market opportunities in the UK.
Industry lead: J L Baxter & Son
J L Baxter & Son is a fruit grower based in Maidstone, who has been producing predominantly apples and pears in the industry for over 80 years.
Research organisation: University of Kent
Grant value: £15,000
New Ingredients
Sustainable Methods for Extracting Proteins from Seaweed
To develop better quality alternative protein from UK-sourced seaweed, this project investigated eco-innovative solutions for protein extraction. The aim was to avoid solvent treatment to retain the hydrocolloid, enabling Born Maverick Alt Pro to deliver the natural gel property without using food additives. It should also improve the sensory quality of the product.
Industry lead: Born Maverick Alt Pro Ltd.
Based in Canterbury, Born Maverick Alt Pro Ltd is aiming to explore untapped algal proteins through eco-innovative methods.
Research organisation: University of Greenwich
Grant value: £15,000
