Development of a new Innovation Programme on behalf of Welsh Government: The Innovation Partnership in Action Programme

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The Welsh Government Food and Drink Division commissioned Innovation Strategy to develop a new programme which would allow collaborative projects to develop innovative food and drink solutions, which address societal and public sector challenges and common issues, facing small groups of businesses within the food and drink industry. Through strong collaboration Innovation Strategy, were able to identify companies throughout wales to research and develop new products, services and processes, accelerating growth by increased innovation and route to market development. The Programme was designed to stimulate innovation in a collaborative environment, allowing food and drink businesses to work with partners in industry, academia and public sector.

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The programme delivered expertise and resources to accelerate the development of innovative food and drink businesses in Wales and accelerate growth through UK Trade or Export opportunities through high impact innovation investment. The purpose of the funding was to allow consortiums to analyse the potential of how they might work together in the development of new products, services or processes. The funding allowed projects to demonstrate the technical and commercial feasibility of the proposed concepts. The funding also enabled projects to analyse and evaluate the potential of concepts and ideas supporting the decision-making process. 

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This programme aims to identify collaborative projects to develop innovative food and drink solutions which can:

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• Maximise collaborative opportunities in the development of new products, services or processes, which will accelerate growth by increased innovation and route to market development.

• Address the core areas of the Future Generations Act, to facilitating innovation in areas such as health, sustainability, and environmental through collaborative engagements.

• Tackle societal and public sector challenges and common issues facing small groups of businesses.