Written question asked by Baroness Byford (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 11 August 2011.

Agriculture and Food: Research Funding

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Technology Strategy Board has completed its review of the lessons learnt from the first research competition on crop protection; and, if so, when they will publish the results.

Answer: The Technology Strategy Board's New Approaches to Crop Protection competition has resulted in support for 32 industry-led research projects worth £26 million, with £13.5 million of public sector funding. Following the competition, the Technology Strategy Board consulted with both industry and academia as it was its first significant funding engagement with this sector. On the basis of the feedback received, it will seek to improve delivery of future competitions by, for example: appointing a high-level steering board to provide sectoral awareness and help in scoping future competitions; increasing the time between launching the competition and the formal opening of the call for applications; engaging more with potential applicants in order to provide more opportunity to learn about the scope of the call and the collaborative R&D process; provide better clarification of state aid issues; make greater use of the knowledge transfer networks to disseminate information about the competition; and hold three consortium building workshops to help organisations meet other potential collaborators. The Technology Strategy Board does not have plans to formally publish the findings.

Secondary information