In January, the government-funded Technology Strategy Board (TSB) will announce a shake-up of the 15 Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNS) it funds. The KTNs were established to provide UK industry with the latest scientific knowledge from Britain’s universities and other innovation bodies to help companies compete more effectively globally.
In a separate move, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in conjunction with the Biosciences KTN – which covers food manufacturing – are expected to publish plans to drive forward innovation within the sector by highlighting 10 areas where they argue more support from government is needed.
‘A pre-competitive vision’
The document called ‘A pre-competitive vision for the UK’s food & drink industries’, has been produced under the auspices of the National Technology Platform (NTP) for Food. The primary aim of the NTP is to identify gaps in the UK food research, innovation and training landscape, informing and promoting existing networks, and addressing fragmentation.
The 10 areas where research is needed are: next generation (integrated) retail; waste minimisation; manufacturing of the future; health and wellbeing through diet; smarter packaging; food safety; understanding and changing behaviours/ purchase drivers; authenticity and traceability; energy and water; and ingredients.
“The clear message is this is where we feel we should be focusing research, however, we can’t do this all alone,” said one industry source. “We need government to provide funding, but also other industry partners. It’s got to be collaborative research.”
Changes to KTNs
The planned changes to the KTNs will come into effect in the new financial year in April, when the funding arrangements for the existing KTNs comes to an end. They will take account of the lessons learned from the KTNs to date. Some rationalisation is expected in what supporters of the move believe will be a more streamlined approach to knowledge transfer which cuts out costly bureaucracy.
The changes are also intended to provide a more “cross-cutting solution” rather than the “silo approach” currently taken to knowledge transfer, according to a TSB spokesman.
However, not everyone in the food sector is happy about the proposed changes. Some senior sources expressed the fear that they will probably further diminish publicly funded research into food manufacturing and food innovation.
Agri-tech strategy
Many within the industry were highly critical that the government’s Agri-tech Strategy published in July this year underplayed the importance of food processing and was far too oriented towards developments in farming.
“What you don’t want is a food strategy that is bolted on to an Agri-tech strategy as there is no continuation through the food chain,” said another source.
At present, the food manufacturing sector is represented within the Biosciences KTN, which is responsible for one of the priority areas of ‘food supply’. Sources within the Biosciences KTN were hopeful that it would be “business as usual” for food following the KTN shake-ups. “I genuinely think it is a fundamental approach that is going to help, not hinder,” said one Biosciences KTN source.