Fight Food Waste SME Solutions Centre

The challenge

Australia has two million-plus small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that contribute over 50% of Australia’s GDP. SMEs have many challenges given their size, one of which is tackling food waste. To support SMEs to find the best food waste solutions and assist in their efficiency and sustainability, the Fight Food Waste SME Solutions Centre (SME Solutions Centre) was created to provide access to funding, skills and expertise. The aim of the SME Solutions Centre was to provide dollar-for-dollar co-funding to successful industry applicants to use researchers in the Fight Food Waste CRC to conduct short-term research that would find a solution to their agri-food waste problems.

Our plan

Launching in August 2019, the SME Solutions Centre was an industry-led initiative from the Fight Food Waste CRC, comprised of a $450K grant program funded by Food Innovation Australia Ltd (FIAL) and administered by Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to assist SMEs to invest in research and development solutions to their food waste challenges. This unique program recommended the best research solutions to SME applicants, offered matching cash funds, and provided access to Australia’s best food waste researchers and a network of industry participants.

The remit of the SME Solutions Centre was to:

test new and novel food processing, packaging, and agricultural technologies to REDUCE food and agricultural waste
identify valuable products in food and agricultural waste streams and TRANSFORM into new commercial opportunities
ENGAGE experts from the Fight Food Waste CRC industry and research participants to identify technology opportunities and processes to enhance food and agricultural waste reduction

The SME Solutions Centre ended on 30th June 2022, with full allocation of available funds to SMEs. Please contact the Fight Food Waste CRC to express an interest in future solutions to support SMEs.