University of Cambridge is a member of Agri-Tech East
Agri-Tech East is a new cluster aimed at improving the international competitiveness and sustainability of plant-based agriculture and horticulture.
Agri-Tech East was founded as a cluster organisation to assist with bringing together companies, scientists and farmers to increase innovation across the farming sector of the Eastern Region. It has been an invaluable source of information for several Departments across the University.
The membership was possible due to a joint effort between various Departments and Initiatives (Big Data SRI and Global Food Security SRI, CambPlants Hub, the School of Biological Sciences, Cambridge Enterprise, Chemistry, Engineering and Plant Sciences Departments, Sainsbury Laboratory, as well as Physics, Veterinary Medicine and Zoology).
In order to exploit the impact possibilities which are enabled by membership, we now have a group of UCAM 'Gatekeepers', who represent the different Departments and Initiatives, and liaise directly with Dr Belinda Clarke, the Director of Agri-Tech East.
If you want to find out more about the membership and how to get involved, either contact your UCAM 'Gatekeeper', or email CambPlants directly at info@cambplants.group.cam.ac.uk, where Dr Mariana Fazenda will be happy to answer any queries.
Through becoming a member of Agri-Tech East, the University benefits from:
- Further introductions through partners and companies across the Agri-Tech sector, providing significant opportunities for impact
- Understanding the current challenges in the market
- Access to companies (global and local) who may have an interest in licensing University IP
- Potential funding for research projects
- Industrial support including matched funding for research council funding proposals
- Single point of contact for the latest innovation in the sector
- Opportunities to communicate University research to a large audience through Agri-Tech East conferences
- Discounted rates to conferences, which will be attended by several individuals across the University
The University of Cambridge (UCAM) has unrivaled strengths in research and teaching excellence, providing a source of knowledge and skills in the region. In the field of Agri-Tech there is a major strength in fundamental plant processes, shared between the Sainsbury Laboratory and Department of Plant Sciences. The role of sustainability in agronomy is led by the Department of Zoology, while technology innovation is undertaken in the Department of Chemistry and Engineering. There is an emphasis on interdisciplinary agricultural research being undertaken through Strategic Research Initiatives such as Global Food Security and Big Data. And an extensive network of industrial interactions both worldwide and locally, exemplified by the Cambridge cluster and supported by Cambridge Enterprise. These are homes to dynamic communities of researchers already addressing crop-related issues, as recognized by support from research councils, government bodies and international agencies. UCAM commitment to Agri-Tech is supported with the most recent collaboration with UK’s National Institute for Agricultural Botany (NIAB), aiming to establish a flexible and dynamic research Cambridge Centre for Crop Sciences (3CS) to look at advancing fundamental scientific solutions to feeding the world’s population. 3CS will act as a hub that provides global leadership in crop sciences, trains the next generation of experts to deliver sustainable yields for the future, develops crop pre-breeding activities and enables the translation of fundamental research into advice on agronomy.
