£1m funding available for innovative Highlanders
Companies in the aquaculture supply chain in the Scottish Highlands are being urged to apply for funding from the Accelerating Aquaculture Innovation (AAI) programme if they have new concepts which they wish to commercialise.
Made possible by £1 million of investment from Highland and Islands Enterprise, and supported by the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, the AAI programme was given the green light in March and is now inviting applications from small to medium-sized enterprises.
The 30-month pilot is expected to attract a similar level of funding from the private sector.
The innovation could be a process, product, service or technology, and its value can take different forms – financial, commercial, economic, social or public – but it must be measurable, and it must benefit the industry and the Scottish economy.
The AAI funding can be used to support in-house innovation, partnerships between companies delivering innovation, or in innovation with academic partners.
Applications can be made any time by downloading the Expression of Interest (EOI) form from the SAIC website.
The form states that: “Generally, funding awards will be at a maximum of 50 per cent intervention. Therefore, the company must be able to demonstrate that they are able to meet a minimum 50 per cent cash contribution to the project, in addition to any associated in-kind contributions. Projects from £25,000 to £1m in total project size will be considered.
"The full application stage is by invitation only and dependent on the outcome decision of the EOI. All project applications and discussions will be treated as confidential and no expenditure on the project should be incurred prior to submission.”
