Six businesses have been successful in the Eastern England Launchpad Funding thanks to a Launchpad programme managed by Innovate UK and initiated under the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership, the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, and Norfolk & Suffolk County Councils.

Amongst the winning projects are Fairman Knight and Sons with a feasibility study for building the UK's first commercial scale insect farm in Eastern England - in Lincolnshire, Utap Ltd building a revolutionary system using blockchain technology to track the life journey of a cow offering complete transparency from farm to fork, and Aqua Bioculture transforming fish breeding through the development of a scalable, modular Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) hatchery.

Fairman Knight and Sons is building the UK's first commercial scale Insect Farm in Eastern England - in Lincolnshire. Fairman Knight's requirements for Insect Technology will be funded through feasibility to establish requirements for the engineering of the new plant and to build the main assumptions for the Business Case evaluating the viability of our Plant for future. The project moves rapidly towards building their first unit to deliver a sustainable economy towards BSF production - food waste repurposed from being sent to landfill, and production of Frass - a peat alternative fertilizer in horticulture.

UTAP Ltd is building a revolutionary system that uses blockchain technology to track each cow's life journey, offering complete transparency from farm to fork fostering trust in ethical sourcing.  Each cow would be allocated a unique barcode for easy identification with farmers using a mobile app to record data securely on the blockchain.  AI analyses data ensuring data accuracy and the project benefits consumers through making informed choices; farmers by gaining recognition for ethical practices; the environment by promoting sustainable cattle production methods, and the wider food chain by enhancing safety and preventing fraud.

NFU Energy Ltd’s GASTRO project aims to transform the UK greenhouse crop production sector, decoupling its energy dependency by exploiting geothermal and spectral cooling technologies. This project will showcase the benefits of using geothermal energy and novel Near Infra-Red (NIR) reflective glass coatings to improve greenhouse efficiency, sustainability, and productivity.

TH Clements & Sons Ltd are tackling waste in cauliflower production through accuracy to forecast growth of the cauliflower heads at a whole field level, and more particularly for individual plants. This project uses state-of-the-art camera systems, coupled with AI to provide a method of predicting head size and growth rate for individual plants.

Aqua Bioculture Ltd aims to transform fish breeding in Eastern England through the development of a scalable, plug-and-play modular Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) hatchery. This system will initially house a model species to demonstrate the technology but will pivot towards producing less common food fish to address the need for diversified and sustainable aquaculture solutions.

Sustainable Organic Innovation & Learning Ltd focuses on plant-based sustainable meat substitutes in a solution combining locally produced grains with the aromatic capabilities of sustainable seaweeds resulting in meaty products that offer the texture of meat while enhancing nutritional value.