Inspiring Agritech Innovation Programme Launches at CropTec
Do you aspire to be an agritech entrepreneur?
A fantastic programme of business support, providing vital skills for entrepreneurial success, is making its debut at the CropTec Show on the 29th and 30th November. The Inspiring Agritech Innovation (IAI) pro-gramme is to be launched by the Royal Agricultural University’s Farm491 agritech incubation hub within the new Farm491 Innovation Zone at the show. With a series of boot camp style workshops to progress agritech R&D and technology solutions to drive food production efficiency in the UK and with a dedicated audience of forward thinking farmers this is the perfect platform for an official launch.
With boot camps starting in early 2018, the IAI initiative by Farm491, one of the UK’s aspiring agritech incubation hubs, sets it sights on facilitating a new wave of agricultural entrepreneurs. Faced with a growing global population, there is increasing pressure to find new ways of producing more efficiently and there are real opportunities to exploit ‘cross-over technologies’ not traditionally used in farming to harness food production growth. This includes areas such as informatics, satellite imaging, remote sensing, meteorology and precision farming.
Think IT, Try IT, Launch IT, Grow IT
The IAI programme is in search of aspiring individuals, early stage start-ups or SME’s with a buzzing agritech proposition that needs support and expertise to get it off the ground. By taking advantage of specialist 2-day workshops, the innovators will be exposed to a network of invaluable support and mentoring. The business support is modelled around the existing successful enterprise programme at Royal Agricultural University in which candidates get a chance to participate in different stages of business establishment and growth, Think IT, Try IT, Launch IT and Grow IT. There will be a rolling timetable of group workshops led by experienced agritech coaches to help develop a convincing value proposition and sustainable business model in the first stage of the “Think IT” business establishment journey. The delegates will then have the option of continuing to one to one engagement with professional and mentors over a period of 12 months.
The IA Programme
The 2-day workshops are specifically designed for:
- Individuals who are considering starting an agritech business
- Founders /Managers of very early stage agritech enterprises (< 6 months old)
Applicants will be required to detail their business proposition and the product/service they hope to launch/develop. All projects proposed will be assessed for potential growth, long term sustainability and the selection panel will be looking for innovation technology that can be applied to agriculture.
Applicants can now register interest online: https://farm491.com/iai/
Dr Ali Hadavizadeh, Programme Manager, Farm491, said; “The Farm491 community is a dynamic, vibrant environment where agritech solutions are born, tested and developed. We have supported a variety of businesses, of all scales, on their journey to success. The Inspiring Agritech Innovation programme is our latest initiative aimed to foster innovative agritech advancement at startup stage. The programme will identify promising candidates, startups and SME’s at the early stages of development and those fortunate to fulfil the criteria will receive a schedule of workshops, mentoring and free business support to assist and magnify their growth. We’re delighted to officialy introduce the programme at CropTec Show and we’re encouraging innovators to now register interest online.“
IAI is part financed by GFirst LEP and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to provide business support to agritech innovators, start-ups and existing agritech enterprises in Cirencester, Gloucestershire and nationwide which have the potential to create jobs and wealth at local and national levels.
For media enquires, please contact Sarah Webster or Rachel Bowdler at Marbles PR
sarah@marblespr.co.uk/ rachel@marblespr.co.uk or call 01939 211 115.