How can Growing Kent & Medway help to grow your food and drink business?

Kent and Medway is home to some of the most exciting and innovative food and drink businesses in the UK and beyond. From growers of fresh fruit and vegetables, to food processors and makers, through to engineers and robotics specialists automating our supply chains. Kent businesses are leading the way in healthy and sustainable food production.

Our mission at Growing Kent & Medway is to invest in innovative ideas to help the food and drink industry in our region continue to thrive. We support horticultural and plant-based businesses of any size; whether you simply have an idea for a new product, or run a large multinational company.

Joining our free network gives you access to business and research support, and an opportunity to connect with other businesses, innovators and investors.

Sign up for free today 

Mentoring

If you have an idea for a new business or would like help to grow your existing business, we are offering up to 12-hours of free one-on-one coaching and business support.

The programme is designed to support you on a wide range of areas from market research, sales, through to supply chain development or marketing strategies.

We will match you with carefully selected mentors, who have the skills and relevant industry experience to support your business growth.

Find out more about our Mentoring Programme here.

Food Accelerator

Do you have an idea for a new product, but need help to make it a reality? Or are you looking to scale-up your business?

We can help you take your concept through to market. Our research and business support team will help you understand whether the product is viable, create a business model, and find ways for you to fund the development.

Based at the Medway Food Innovation Centre, you will get access to equipment that can test flavour, help create healthier products with less salt or sugar, and check food safety.

Find out more about how Food Accelerator here.

Networking

By understanding your business, we can connect you with our experts who can work with you to help solve the challenges you may be facing, or help turn your ideas into a reality. This could involve taste testing a new product, finding more sustainable packaging options or automating your production!

Innovation

By understanding your business, we can connect you with our experts who can work with you to help solve the challenges you may be facing, or help turn your ideas into a reality. This could involve taste testing a new product, finding more sustainable packaging options or automating your production!

There are three organisations in Kent who lead the way in horticultural and plant-based food and drink research.

At NIAB in East Malling, the GreenTech Hub for Advanced Horticulture can help you develop sustainable crop production systems, reduce waste and use resources such as water, nutrients and light more efficiently.

The Biotechnology Hub at the University of Kent can support you with identifying and controlling crop diseases, optimising plant growth conditions, and creating new sources of protein for food products.

And if you are looking to protype new food products, the Medway Food Innovation Centre at the University of Greenwich are leaders in testing food flavour, quality and safety.

Grants

From small grants of £5,000 to larger grants of up to £250,000, we have a range of funding opportunities available. Whether you want to find alternative ways to protect crops from pests and disease, or create a new use for your waste products, the money is there for you to invest in innovation, research and development.

Find out more about ours grants.

Signing up for a membership to Growing Kent & Medway is completely free. Register today.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Growing Kent & Medway and to see whether we can be of help to your business, please get in touch.

Drop an email to: [email protected] and an advisor will get back to you to find out more about your business and discuss how we can help.

Growing Kent & Medway is funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places fund.

Our Network

The Growing Kent & Medway cluster is led by a world-class consortium of partners from NIAB EMR, APS Salads, Berry Gardens Growers, Chapel Down Plc, Geku UK Ltd, Gusbourne Estate Ltd, Locate in Kent, Richard Hochfeld Ltd, Smurfit Kappa UK Ltd, Thanet Earth Ltd, World Wide Fruit Ltd, Kent County Council, Medway Council, the University of Greenwich, and the University of Kent.

The collaboration increases research capacity and industry engagement to drive innovation and technology commercialisation. It is backed by strong support from the political, civic and business communities in the region.

The consortium has recently been supported by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Strength in Places Fund.

https://www.ukri.org

The UK Government announced the Strength in Places Fund in the 2017 Industrial Strategy White Paper. This highlighted the important role that science, research, innovation and skills provision play in driving productivity gains and economic growth throughout the regions and nations of the UK.

UKRI operates across the whole of the UK bringing together 9 research funding bodies to work in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government. It aims to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish.

Globally Relevant

The Growing Kent & Medway cluster is located in a region that is delivering major export growth in high-value horticulture. Significant potential lies with produce such as British berries which have shown increases in export value of over 300% in recent years.

The region is also a leader in innovation for the UK food and drink sector. Notable opportunities exist in Kent’s burgeoning viticulture industry. Demand for UK wine is ahead of supply, and production of English sparkling wine is predicted to more than double in the next 10 years. The sector is one of the fastest growing UK exports with a particularly strong market in the Far East. Exports are expected to grow to 25% of production by 2025.

Horticulture, fresh produce packaging and food & drink processing are technology intensive. The UK is seen as a global leader in Agri-Tech and the emerging technologies with the sector employing over half a million people. With technologies such as automation, AI, engineering and precision farming, the potential to deliver environmental sustainability and efficiency gains are substantial. Given increased interest and investment and improved infrastructure to support collaboration, the Growing Kent & Medway cluster will stimulate innovation in Agri-Tech and the emerging technologies to open up significant opportunities for the sector.

We recognise the importance of fostering links with international partners beyond the UK, and a recent Memorandum of Understanding signed between Growing Kent & Medway partners and Oost NL, the East Netherlands Development Agency, is just one of the exciting initiatives we are involved in that put us firmly on the global stage.

Regional Development

Kent & Medway plays a key part in the UK economy and is a leading region for the food and drink sector:

• Kent’s contributes £2.6bn to the UK’s food and drink industry with over 2,500 food and drink business and 17,000 employees located in the region.
• Growers benefit from the region’s exceptional climate producing world-beating wines and boasting the largest high-tech greenhouse complexes in the UK.
• With a strong focus on technologies of the future and advanced manufacturing, Kent & Medway is home to over 3,500 manufacturing companies generating £3.2bn to the economy. Advanced engineering provides around 15,500 jobs in Kent alone.
• The region is home to almost 300 cutting-edge life science companies and a network of world-class scientists located in several universities and notable research organisations.

The Growing Kent & Medway cluster stimulates collaboration between these players. By combining the strengths of its partners, it catalyses innovation in advanced horticulture, food and drink processing and emerging technologies to create growth in the regional economy.