Food and agri-tech innovators across the East of England could win a share of £2.5m in the latest round of "Launchpad" funding.

Innovate UK is partnering with Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership to boost innovation in the region's nationally important agri-tech and food technology sector.

This week, it opened a £2.5m funding competition with two "strands", which will close on November 16.

In the Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA) competition, micro, small and medium-sized businesses can apply for grants of between £25,000 and £100,000 to cover up to 100pc of their project costs.

Meanwhile, the Collaborative Research and Development (CR&D) competition offers grants of £150,000 to £300,000 for "business-led collaborative innovation projects" lasting between six and 18 months.

Project partnerships must include an SME (small or medium enterprise) and be comprised of organisations such as businesses, universities, research institutes, charities and the public sector.

Both competitions are aimed at projects developing and applying technologies in areas including enhancing the productivity of crops, livestock and aquaculture or biotechnologies related to agriculture, aquaculture, food processing and nutrition.

Funding is also available for projects on "food that promotes safe, lower carbon or more sustainable healthy and nutritious diets", and "resource-efficient production and processing methods for low emission foods".

Fabian Eagle, Norfolk County Council’s cabinet member for economic growthFabian Eagle, Norfolk County Council’s cabinet member for economic growth (Image: NCC) Fabian Eagle, Norfolk County Council’s cabinet member for economic growth, said: "We are delighted to see this vital funding for a variety of Norfolk’s key sectors from agriculture to food and drink manufacturing, with funding available to partner with some of our globally significant research at Norwich Research Park, including the UEA, John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute, Earlham Institute, The Sainsbury Laboratory and The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change.

"Norfolk saw some fantastic successes in round one of the Agri-Tech and Food Tech Launchpad, including Tropic Biosciences, Funki Drinks, Snack Creations Ltd, Oxcel Ltd, PFBio and Traitseq."