Scotland’s food and drink industry is set to receive a £10 million investment in order to boost research and innovation in the sector.
Scotland’s food and drink industry is set to receive a £10 million investment in order to boost research and innovation in the sector.
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.
