An application portal for grants of up to $75,000 to startups working on food and/or agriculture-related innovation in the life sciences, technology and food and beverage (nonretail) sectors will open at 9 a.m. Monday, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority announced Wednesday.
The grants are part of a $750,000 Food and Agriculture R&D Pilot Seed Program that is being run by the New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology. Ten companies are expected to receive grants.
The application portal will be open until July 14. For more information on how to apply, click here.
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CSIT will host an informational webinar on the programs at 4 p.m. Monday. Registration for the webinar can be found here. A recording of the webinar will be available on each program’s website.
The goal of the R&D Pilot Seed Program is to support innovation from researchers and entrepreneurs focused on developing technology and other solutions to address food insecurity in New Jersey. It will accelerate New Jersey’s early-stage, innovation-based companies’ research & development of technologies, enabling research-stage concepts to transform into commercially viable products and services that address the food security needs of New Jersey’s communities. CSIT aims to fund 10 companies for awards of up to $75,000 each.
Program officials said they seek to identify and implement ways to increase access to nutritious foods and develop new approaches to alleviate food deserts. The program aims to support the development of innovative technologies within these target areas:
- Life sciences;
- Technology;
- Food and beverage;
- Transportation and logistics.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s economic development plan, “The State of Innovation: Building a Stronger and Fairer N.J. Economy,” identifies life sciences and food and beverage (nonretail) as two of the strategic sectors for accelerating growth in New Jersey’s economy. These seed grant programs will support New Jersey startups in these vital sectors.
