Content in Summary:
Funding Opportunities –upcoming TSB calls; deadline 17 Nov 2010; FP7 calls, deadline 25 Jan 2011
Events –CPPS lecture by Dr Lars Ostergaard, JIC: 25 Nov 2010, 16:00-17:00 at the Dept of Plant Sciences, Cambridge CB2 3EA, followed by networking
News –new CPPS website now live; BSPB Report on Economic Impact of Plant Breeding in the UK; Building work at NIAB; update on Agriculture’s Big Conversation: meeting on 14 Oct cancelled.
Funding Opportunities
Upcoming TSB calls: Open date: 12 October 2010. Close date: 17 Nov 2010 (variable)
Technology-Inspired Collaborative Research and Development
The core technology areas covered by this competition are: Advanced Materials; Biosciences; Electronics, Photonics & Electrical Systems; High Value Manufacturing, ICT, Nanotechnology. Up to £18m will be invested.
Further details can be downloaded from:
http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/technology-inspired-collaborative-research-and-dev.ashx
Manufacturing High Value Chemicals through Industrial Biotechnology
An indicative £2.5m is being invested to support feasibility and collaborative R&D projects.
Collaborative R&D projects should be business-led consortia and include an end user. Feasibility projects may be business-led consortia or single companies.
Further details can be downloaded from:
http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/manufacturing-high-value-chemicals-through-industr.ashx
Genomes UK: Exploiting the Potential of High-Throughput Sequencing
The Technology Strategy Board is launching a collaborative R&D competition with up to £5 million available to invest in projects using genomics-based technologies. This initiative seeks to highlight the opportunities created by the decrease in cost and increase in speed in highthroughput sequencing technology. Projects should be business-led and seek to develop new products or processes.
Further details can be downloaded from:
http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/genomes-uk-exploiting-the-potential-of-high-throug.ashx
FP7 calls "Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnologies"
The primary aim in funding Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology (FAFB) research under FP7 is to build a European Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) by bringing together all industries and economic sectors that produce, manage and exploit biological resources and related services, supply or consumer industries, such as food, fisheries, forestry, agriculture, etc.
The theme is based on three activity areas:
- Sustainable production and management of biological resources from land, forest and aquatic environments
- Fork to farm: Food (including seafood), health and well-being
- Life Sciences and Biotechnology for sustainable non-food products and processes
Participation is open to a wide range of organisations and individuals from research institutes and universities to SMEs and large companies. Essentially, any "legal entity" is eligible with different participation rules applying depending on the research initiative in question. Generally, consortia require three legal entities from three different EU member states or associated countries as a bare minimum.
The concrete plans for implementing the specific programmes are announced by the Commission in annual "Work Programmes" (WP), which include the schedules of "Calls for proposals" to be published during the year.
Work Programme 2011
Call title: KBBE 2011- general call for proposals
Call identifier: FP7-KBBE-2011-5
Date of publication: 20 July 2010
Deadline: 25 January 2011 at 17.00.00 (Brussels local time)
Indicative budget: € 240.27 million from 2011 budget
More information and the full work programme 2011 for this Cooperation theme 2 are available on the Cordis website: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/kbbe/home_en.html
Events
Next CPPS Lecture
Advance notice for your diaries: The next CPPS lecture will be given by Dr Lars Ostergaard, JIC on 25 Nov 2010, 16:00-17:00 at the Dept of Plant Sciences, Cambridge CB2 3EA, followed by networking. All welcome, no registration is necessary.
News
CPPS website
The re-designed CPPS website is now live; thank you to all those who have given their input. Please let us know if you find any bugs in your browser; since we did this in-house with a rather limited budget, it might still need perfecting! I hope you will find it useful.
BSPB report on Economic Impact of Plant Breeding in the UK
This BSPB report can now be downloaded from http://www.bspb.co.uk/documents/BSPB%20impact%20final%20report.pdf.
Building work at NIAB - Park Farm Glasshouses open for business
Ever wondered what all the building work at NIAB is about?
Here is a progress report on the first, now completed stage: The NIAB Park Farm Glasshouses. Further updates will follow. Contact kate.parsley@niab.com for more information!
"These eight state-of-the-art glasshouses are a superb start to NIAB’s long-term major capital redevelopment programme at our Cambridge site which will include a new fieldstation at Park Farm and a smaller but redeveloped footprint at Huntingdon Road," said NIAB Chief Executive Tina Barsby.
"The glasshouses are five metres high, but vary in length and technology installed depending on the specific crop requirements. Some glasshouses have been separated into stand-alone compartments, allowing different environmental conditions to be created. An on-site weather station connected to the glasshouse climate control system automatically regulates temperature and humidity," said NIAB’s Client Services Director John Hutchins who has overseen the development.
The 1,824 m2 glasshouse complex replaces the 1,712 m2 destined for demolition in 2010 at Huntingdon Road, a mile south of Park Farm over the main A14 road separating the entire NIAB site. "While there is little difference in the actual footprint of the glasshouses, the new facilities utilise the space more efficiently, for example with the moving benches, so the growing space is far greater. Other aspects include the supplementary lighting complemented by blackout blinds to reduce light pollution for nearby residents. One glasshouse has metal halide (mercury) lights. They provide a lighting regime with more blue suitable for some crops such as potatoes," explained John.
The original planning permission anticipated future site expansion with plans for a covered walkway linking all the glasshouses and extending the service building. Having developed the overall complex from a green field site, Dr Hutchins concluded the infrastructure and space for two further glasshouses and growth rooms is now in place and will allow further expansion as NIAB’s business grows.
New technology installed in the glasshouses includes:
• thermal and shade roof shades
• full blackout blinds
• fingertip control moving benches
• automatic irrigation
• aphid screens on the vents
• supplementary grow lighting of different intensities
• night-break lighting for manipulating plant growth and flowering
Update on Agriculture’s Big Conversation
Further to the update on Agriculture’s Big Conversation sent in the last newsletter, please note that the launch meeting to be held on October 14th at Stoneleigh Park has been postponed; new date tbc:
'As I mentioned before, we have revised and upscaled the ambition of our plans as a result of the feedback we have had from across the industry. The meeting planned for October 14th is just going to come too quickly, therefore we are postponing it.'
Please therefore remove 14th October from your diary. Apologies for any inconvenience this causes, but we are sure that wider consultation with industry will yield much greater rewards in the long term.
We are delighted that great strides have already been made to get all the major industry organisations committed to collaborate on this issue and look forward to building on this great opportunity.’
For further information please contact: Ian Beecher-Jones, Project Manager
T: 01491 642 300; M: 07967 637 985; E: ian@beecherjones.com.
If you have any events, news or advertisements you would like to see included in the next newsletter, or to unsubscribe, please email bgs21@cam.ac.uk (deadline for inclusion in next newsletter is 22 Oct 2010).
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