PARTNERS

Gwynedd Council

Project Co-Ordinator: Gareth Wyn Williams
01286 679 628 / GarethWynWilliams2@gwynedd.gov.uk

University of Wales, Bangor

The role of the MENTERRA staff in the University of Wales Bangor (UWB) School of the Environment and Natural Resources is to develop and research new opportunities for Gwynedd farmers. They are based at the Henfaes Research Centre, Abergwyngregyn.

The School’s position amongst the best in Britain was confirmed in the last Research Assessment Exercise, when the department was awarded a Grade 5 as recognition for producing research of international importance.

This is the type of expertise that will be useful for the MENTERRA project to develop new initiatives for Gwynedd farmers, during a time when all farmers need to consider the requirements of the market carefully.

Any initiative developed under the name of the project will need to be innovative and appropriate to the landscape and climate of Gwynedd. As well as conducting trials at Henfaes, crucial work will be carried out on the farms of the county, where the University’s scientists, in partnership with the Agricultural Enterprise Officers (Cymad) and the local farmers, will be testing the performance of these new initiatives under proper commercial circumstances.

Project Scientist: Dr Edward Dickin
01248 689106 / e.t.dickin@bangor.ac.uk

CYMAD

The Agri Innovation Officers worked closely with the agricultural community in recruiting farmers and forming the relevant trialling contracts. They were also responsible for ordering the special seeds and ensuring that good communications between the triallers and partners were maintained. The Officers monitored development of the crops and carefully recorded the differences between the various locations and conditions within the County for future reference.

Agri-Enterprise Officer: Hazel Jones
01766 543036 / hazel@cymad.org

BIC Innovation

BIC Innovation has provided specialist support and expertise in the field of innovation for many years and brings a wealth of innovation experience to the Menterra project. BIC are highly experienced in commercial market research, new product development, strategic development, creativity, technology transfer and commercialisation, and intellectual property management. BIC Innovation undertakes a wide range of UK and International commercial project work for businesses, development organisations and academia.

The MENTERRA project has benefited from BIC’s specialist knowledge in the areas of knowledge exploitation and the initiative has also allowed BIC Innovation to support the project within the specific area of novel crops. BIC has provided market assessments, feasibility studies and access to production facilities for small processing trials for the Menterra crops. It has also assisted in developing innovative non-traditional products and explored potential avenues of exploitation. The identification of routes to market, the forecasting of future potential and predicting consumer trends in the global marketplace has also been part of the work.

The project has not allowed products to be taken to market although this will happen in future as trialer groups become grower groups. BIC is also supporting this avenue of development beyond Menterra.

http://www.bic-innovation.com

Marketing Director: Huw Watkins
01248 671101 / huw.watkins@bic-innovation.com