The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has awarded $40 million to 12 projects under the second phase [1] of the Singapore Food Story (SFS) R&D Programme to accelerate food innovation in urban agriculture, aquaculture, future foods and food safety.
2 The projects were selected through the (i) Seed Grant Call that supports early-stage R&D, (ii) Research Translation Grant Call that supports translational R&D focused on demonstrating commercialisation potential, and (iii) Future Foods Grant Call that focuses on cost reduction and process improvement.
3 Of the projects awarded, two were under Seed grant call, five under Research Translation grant call and four under Future Foods grant call. In addition, a programme on indoor farming systems launched earlier this year by the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), with Wageningen University and Research, and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), was also awarded. The details are listed in Annex.
4 Dr Andy Tay, Presidential Young Professor at the National University of Singapore, is one of the winners under the Seed Grant. His research proposal focused on developing precision genetic tools to produce more vegetables indoors. He said: “My lab is proud to support Singapore in shaping our food story by harnessing the power of nanotechnology to engineer plants that grow faster and are more resistant to climate change”.
5 Another project winner under the Research Translation Grant is Professor Joachim Loo from NTU, whose proposal focused on managing aquatic diseases. He said: “As part of our endeavour in advancing the Singapore Food Story, our lab is developing enhanced aquaculture feeds that improve disease resilience and growth in Asian seabass using encapsulation technology for targeted supplement release”.
6 Among the entries of the Future Foods Grant is the GROW Meats project, comprising researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), National University of Singapore, and Singapore Institute of Technology. Their proposal focuses on developing cost-effective cell media solutions and scalable manufacturing processes to lower the costs of producing cultured meat products. By addressing key factors in cost and quality, the GROW Meats team aims to advance innovations and promote sustainable growth in the alternative proteins sector through their forthcoming efforts.
7 Mr Damian Chan, Chief Executive Officer of SFA, said: “With pressing challenges like climate change and geopolitical developments, which could lead to global food supply chain disruptions, the future of food security relies heavily on innovative R&D. These awarded projects have demonstrated ingenuity and practical potential, and I look forward to positive outcomes which moves us closer to a resilient, sustainable and thriving agri-tech ecosystem.”
8 For more information on the SFS R&D Programme and the various grant calls, please refer to https://www.sfa.gov.sg/recognition-programmes-grants/grants/singapore-food-story-rd-grant-call.
[1] Fresh funding of $165 million has been allocated to further the second phase of the SFS R&D Programme (SFS 2.0) to support research projects in the aquaculture, agriculture, future foods and food safety domains.
