$240K to bring Agritech Challenge tech ideas to life
News Release
January 12, 2017 – Victoria, British Columbia – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the BC Ministry of Agriculture
British Columbia’s agritech sector will benefit from the $240,000 that the winners of the Agritech Innovation Challenge will receive to develop and adopt new technology.
Launched at the Growing the Future Together – BC Agrifood and Seafood Conference in November 2016, the Agritech Innovation Challenge brings together innovators with industry to develop a product or process to enhance productivity, sustainability and resiliency of B.C.’s agrifood sector.
In December, 44 innovators completed the first stage of the Agritech Innovation Challenge by submitting a Letter of Intent which outlined their proposal for addressing one of the following challenges (see backgrounder for details):
- Enhance berry competitiveness through mechanization, storage, processing, quality assurance, and breeding solutions;
- Minimize loss reductions and improve sustainable pest management;
- Enhance greenhouse efficiencies; and
- Improve nutrient recovery strategies towards value-added processing.
These submissions will now be reviewed by a panel of experts, which will decide which submission from each category will be awarded $20,000 in seed funding to help with the further development of the proposal and new technology. These winners will also receive technical, financial and marketing mentorship services from the BC Innovation Council’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence.
The support for innovation does not stop with the seed funding. The panel of experts will also decide which submissions will be invited to submit, by February 1st, more detailed information about their commercial-ready or late stage pilot proposal. These advanced proposals will compete for an additional $160,000 in federal-provincial government funding targeting the adoption of innovative technology. The recipients of the advanced project funding will be announced at the #BCTech Summit in March 2017.
Additional links
- The Agritech Innovation Challenge
- BC Innovation Council
- #BCTECH Strategy
- #BCTECH Summit March 14-15, 2017
- Growing Forward 2 programs in British Columbia
- Growing Forward 2 (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
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Contacts
Dave Townsend
Government Communications and Public Engagement
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture
250-356-7098
250-889-5945 (mobile)
Guy Gallant
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay
613-773-1059
Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
613-773-7972
1-866-345-7972
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