Later tonight, I am joining Singapore’s Grow Accelerator and the Royal Agriculture University’s (UK) agritech incubator programme, Farm491, on a 90 minute call.
The purpose of the call is to learn more about the upcoming Land & Launch programme, being hosted by GROW, which is designed to connect UK agrifood startups into the Singapore and wider ASEAN market.
A quick 4 point summary of the programme reads as follows:
- Establish a corridor to accelerate the expansion of UK agrifood tech startups and scale-ups into Asia and beyond
- Position UK as a leader in developing agrifood tech that can be taken globally
- Reciprocate knowledge, tech, talent and investment exchange between Singapore and the UK
- Integrate UK agrifood tech startups and scale-ups into the GROW South-East Asia ecosystem
As I’ve indicated in previous posts, I’ve been working closely with the team at GROW for some time. Building new channels to market for New Zealand agritech companies has been a core focus of mine whilst we stay locked behind closed borders.
Wearing some of my different current hats; Head of Global Alliances at Agritech New Zealand, Senior Adviser to the Australian Agritech Association and an external adviser to the nascent AgriFood Tech Singapore Association, has provided me with an insight into some of the opportunities that a pan-APAC AgriFood Hub could offer. New Zealand, Australia and Singapore all enjoy strong bilateral relations. The question is; can we triangulate this to address two of the major challenges of our time – sustainable food production and food safety? I believe we can. It’s a question that I will be asking as I connect with colleagues in both Singapore and the UK later tonight.
Given the time zones between the UK & Singapore, tonight’s call starts at 10.00pm. Time then for a milo and chocolate biscuit as we learn more about just how a Land & Launch programme might play out. As a potential template for Australia and New Zealand, it is going to be an interest model to discuss.