African Agriculture Knowledge transfer partnerships: 2023-24 R3

Key Features

UK registered higher or further education institutions, RTOs or Catapults, can apply for a share of up to £2.5m from the African agriculture KTP, working with a knowledge base and business partner registered in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £2.5 million

Opens: 24th May 2023

Closes: 5th Jul 2023

! This scheme is now closed

Overview

This Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) competition is part of the African agriculture strand of KTP. Innovate UK is investing up to £2.5 million towards the funding of projects in this strand.

The African agriculture strand of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme supports a partnership between:

  • a UK registered higher education or further education institution, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult (which we will refer to as the ‘UK knowledge base’)
  • an African business or not for profit organisation (which we will refer to collectively as the ‘business partner’)
  • a knowledge base in Africa (which we will refer to as the ‘African knowledge base’)

This competition is being run in 2 stages. Stage 1 will require the lead organisation to submit a Fact Find Form. Projects meeting the competition criteria will be invited to submit a full application in stage 2.

In stage 1 and stage 2, the application must be led by a UK registered knowledge base, working with an African business partner and African knowledge base.

This is stage 1 of a 2 stage competition. No funding is awarded at this stage.

Scope

Your application must align with this scope criteria and be for a specific, strategic innovation project that tackles one or more challenges faced by the business partner.

It can be any kind of project, but it must show:

  • why the business needs this KTP
  • what new knowledge is required by the business
  • what new capabilities will be embedded as a result of the KTP

Your proposal must tackle one or more challenges faced by the business partner in one of the following areas:

  • primary crop and livestock production, including aquaculture
  • non-food uses of crops, excluding ornamentals
  • challenges in food processing, distribution or storage, and value addition, for example through a change in the physical state or form of the product
  • improving the availability and accessibility of safe, healthy and nutritious foods

Your project’s innovations must:

  • be sustainable in the context of environmental challenges, such as climate change and resource scarcity
  • minimise negative effects such as pollution, food loss and waste
  • promote safe, healthy and nutritious diets

You must demonstrate how the primary benefit from your project will be a contribution to international development outcomes, specifically both:

  • enhanced food and nutrition security
  • welfare of the poor in urban and rural areas in developing countries

We encourage applications from micro, small or medium enterprises (SMEs) based in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. Large businesses can apply if they are not part of an international group.

Eligibility

Each African Agriculture KTP is a partnership between the following:

  • a UK registered higher education or further education institution, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult, which we will refer to as the ‘UK knowledge base’
  • an African business or not for profit organization, which we will refer to collectively as the ‘business partner’
  • a knowledge base in Africa, which we will refer to as the ‘African knowledge base’

The business and African knowledge base must both be based in one of the following countries:

  • Republic of Ghana
  • Federal Republic of Nigeria
  • Republic of Kenya
  • Republic of South Africa

The African Agriculture KTP does not support projects where the business partner is in the public sector.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.

Knowledge base partner

This is a 2 stage application process. Each application must be created by a UK knowledge base, who will also lead the project.

The UK knowledge base partner must submit a fact find form into stage 1 of this competition on behalf of the partnership. Only projects meeting the competition criteria will be invited to submit a full application in Stage 2.

The UK knowledge base partner must:

  • be a UK registered higher education (HE) or further education (FE) institution, Research Technology Organisation (RTO) or Catapult
  • be registered as a knowledge base with the KTP programme
  • be able to invite one business or not-for-profit organisation from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa to join the application and collaborate with them on the development of the project
  • invite one African knowledge base from the same African country as the business partner to join the application and collaborate with them on the development of the project
  • invite one knowledge transfer adviser to support the application
  • ensure that neither knowledge base have ownership of 50% or more of the business partner or a controlling interest via a shareholder agreement
  • ensure associates are recruited in a demonstrably open and fair manner
  • allow associates to participate in the typical working patterns of the business for the majority of the project, unless working virtually, this should take place at the business partner’s premises
  • agree to provide at least half a day per week of academic support for the associate
  • complete the application form in partnership with the African business and knowledge base
  • make sure the application is completed and submitted with the agreement of a knowledge transfer adviser before the competition closes
  • submit a current full economic costing (fEC) letter with each application if you are using the full fEC costing model and support the project in accordance with its provision
  • provide the project secretariat
  • reach an intellectual property (IP) agreement with the African knowledge base and business partner before the project commences
  • agree to attend specified meetings at a location identified by the business partner
  • ensure that none of the proposed academic team are directors, consultants or otherwise engaged by the business or group
  • not act in any way to gain selective commercial or economic advantage from the outputs of the project

As part of their involvement in the project the knowledge base partners must provide a case study to Innovate UK using the template provided, upon completion of the project.

Publications are linked to the no subsidy status of this competition. Knowledge base partners must also seek to publish a minimum of 2 academic papers for publication per completed project or create at least 2 industry focused publications per project, publicly sharing project outcomes.

Your business partner must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the knowledge base partner to collaborate on a project. When the business partner accepts their invitation, they will need to:

  • login or create an account
  • enter estimates of their own project costs, which may be updated as part of the final reporting process

African Business partner

We use the term ‘business partner’ for businesses and not for profit organisations. Business partners cannot work alone.

Business partners must develop the project with a UK knowledge base and a knowledge base from their own country who can provide the right skills to meet the knowledge gap within the business

We encourage business partners to approach knowledge bases directly to discuss the suitability of KTP for their specific circumstances.

The business partner must:

  • be a business, of any size, or a not-for-profit organisation registered in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa
  • collaborate with a UK knowledge base, registered with KTP and a knowledge base from their own country
  • have 2 or more full time equivalent employees
  • determine the size of their business or group
  • declare the total number of employees within the business and if part of a group of businesses, within the group
  • complete the application form in partnership with the knowledge base partners
  • host the associate and provide them with day to day supervisory support
  • host monthly supervisor, Local management Committee (LMC) and other mandatory meetings at their own expense
  • provide evidence that demonstrates their ability to financially support the exploitation of the project
  • reach a written IP agreement with the knowledge base before the project commences

The business partner must provide evidence of their ability to financially support their exploitation of the project. They are required to provide financial accounts from the current financial year and the previous two years.

Other supporting documentation may be required. For businesses less than 3 years old, the knowledge base or Knowledge Transfer Adviser will give further guidance.

If the business is part of a group, it is the overall size of the group must be declared.

Large businesses can apply if they are not part of an international group.

Please refer to the company accounts guidance or speak to your accountant, to help determine the overall size of your business or group.

The business must be registered in their own country. This is normally demonstrated on a public register, such as on Companies House in the UK

The registered name and registration number provided must match the official public register.

African knowledge base partner

The African knowledge base partner must be a registered higher education or further education institution from the same country as the African business partner.

The African knowledge base partner must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the UK knowledge base partner to collaborate on a project.

UKRI will perform due diligence checks on each African knowledge base partner and may prohibit Innovate UK from working with partners it believes do not meet the principles of Trusted Research and Innovation.

Joint commitment statement and exploitation plan

Both the UK and African knowledge base partners and the business partner must sign a joint commitment statement. The business partner’s registered name must be used for both the application and the joint commitment statement.

You must deliver an exploitation plan during your project. By completing all sections of the application form you will have completed your initial exploitation plan.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are not allowed in this competition.

This competition provides funding that is not classed by Innovate UK as a subsidy. You should still seek independent legal advice on what this means for you, before applying.

Further information about the Subsidy Control Act 2022 requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)

‘No subsidy’ status is only granted to organisations which declare that they will not use the funding:

  • in any way which gives them selective economic or commercial advantage
  • in any way which would determine the funding as a subsidy as defined by the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)

It is the responsibility of the UK knowledge base to make sure all collaborators in the project remain compliant with these requirements.

It is important to note that it is the activity that an organisation is engaged in as part of the project and not its intentions, that define whether any support provided could be considered a subsidy.

Exclusions

Innovate UK will not fund:

  • projects that are not strategic for the business partner
  • projects that do not demonstrate a genuine market opportunity or viable route to market
  • research projects
  • projects where the business partner is a public sector organisation
  • projects which are classed as State aid under EC regulations or a subsidy under the EU-UK TCA
  • undertakings which gain a selective economic or commercial advantage from the funding

Innovate UK are also not funding projects with the following themes:

  • forestry or ornamentals
  • wild-capture fisheries
  • equine
  • crops for energy production

Funding Costs

Find out about the cost of participating in KTP and understand which project costs are eligible for funding.

Any funding is provided on a no subsidy basis. This means you must publish or make all project outputs openly available on a non-selective basis. If you decide to commercially exploit project outputs, you can only do so with no selective advantage.

This is stage 1 of a 2 stage competition. Stage 1 is an expression of interest (EOI) and no funding is awarded at this stage.

Contribution from Innovate UK

Innovate UK has allocated up to £2.5 million in this round of the African agriculture KTP programme, which will contribute towards the total costs of the individual projects.

Funding for the African agriculture KTP comes from Innovate UK and is distributed by the UK based knowledge partner.

Eligible costs depend on a number of factors, including the:

  • duration of the project
  • registered location of project

Eligible project costs will be 100% funded.

Contribution from the business partner

The business partner in your application must fully support project delivery.

The business partner must pay for:

  • items listed in the additional costs section of the application form
  • the time spent on the project by their own staff
  • other non-eligible costs such as the purchase of capital equipment
  • commercialisation of the project outputs

This is a 2 stage process

Stage 1 of the application process is to complete a fact find form. This is available from within the application system once the application has been created by the UK Knowledge Base partner.

Projects meeting the competition criteria will be invited to submit a full application in Stage 2.

Number of applications

Each knowledge base can collaborate with any number of business partners.

Each business partner (including separate businesses within a business group) can only take part in up to 4 concurrent KTP funded projects.

Additional applications may be allowed at the discretion of the programme manager.

Previous applications

You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

Innovate UK will not award you funding if you have previously failed to:

  • exploit other Innovate UK or UKRI funded projects
  • comply with the grant terms and conditions of any Innovate UK or UKRI funded projects

Knowledge Transfer Advisers

Applications must be supported by an Innovate UK appointed Knowledge Transfer Adviser (KTA) who will be informed of your application. It will be withdrawn from the competition if they have not given their support.

The adviser will provide the knowledge base and business with guidance throughout the application process. To support all projects equitably, the adviser may set a timetable for the knowledge base and business during the development of an application. Should the timetable or the guidance offered not be followed, the adviser may choose not to support an application.

Interested in applying for this competition?

Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.