The 17 Scottish universities that will form the Scottish Universities Industry Innovation Network for Food and Drink, will contribute £3.1 million to the partnership.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) is to invest £2.64 million over a five-year period to support the partnership.

Trade associations, such as Scotland Food and Drink, and participating companies, will also support the partnership with an investment of £4.8 million.

Academics from various disciplines will work together with businesses and their supporting trade sectors to deliver a range of knowledge exchange projects in areas including food science, supply chain development, waste management, packaging design and marketing.

Scotland’s food and drink industry generates over £9.5 billion per year to the country’s economy and employs more than 360,000 people, according to a statement from the SFC.

The announcement was made at the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards, where rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead said the Scottish government wants to see the sector grow to £12.5 billion by 2017.

Mark Batho, chief executive of the SFC, adds, ‘This is the first time such a multi-disciplinary collaboration of researchers, from almost every Scottish university, have come together to focus on a key sector.’

The network will be led by the University of Aberdeen, the University of Abertay Dundee and Heriot-Watt University.