Rural economy secretary, Fergus Ewing has set up a £650,000 fund to support the growth of Scottish food and drink businesses. It is hoped that the funding will facilitate companies’ ability to work with each other to come up with new ways to sell their products.

The Food and Drink Collaboration Innovation Fund, which is supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, is part of a package to help businesses who are looking to innovate and follows up on the recent launch of the ‘Make Innovation Happen’ service.

The service is open to all food and drink businesses across the supply chain in Scotland, and will provide information and support including: providing access to technical knowledge and expertise, specialist facilities, and advice on funding; supporting businesses to tap into resources available in Scotland from the public sector and academia; ensuring businesses receive support which is aligned, not just across Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Interface, but other delivery partners that are supporting innovation.

Speaking at the Royal Highland Show, Fergus Ewing says, “Scotland’s reputation as an innovative and globally trading nation is recognised but we need to do more. We want more of our food and drink businesses to sell more goods and services to more markets. We want existing investors to develop, grow and expand in Scotland and to ensure that we remain a location of choice for inward investors.

“Innovation will be key to delivering the industry’s strategic ambitions to double the turnover of the industry by 2030. This fund will help bring business and academia together to help deliver greater growth.”

James Withers, Scotland Food & Drink chief executive, comments, “Our unique approach to collaboration has been critical to the ten years of growth enjoyed by Scotland’s food and drink industry. This new Collaborative Innovation Fund reflects the importance of collaboration in unlocking innovation, which we know will be critical to our future growth.