All levy research and development begins with a single idea. For the horticulture industry, these ideas go through Hort Innovation’s innovation concept pipeline and turn into projects for levy investment that will deliver tangible industry benefits.

If you have an idea for a research and development project using levy investment, submit it through the concept proposal form on the Hort Innovation website. Submitting ideas to Hort Innovation helps to ensure investment is directed into projects that meet the industry’s needs and respond to grower concerns.

When ideas are submitted to Hort Innovation, they are prioritised in consultation with the Strategic Investment Advisory Panels that provide industry oversight for Hort Innovation’s investment funds. As with all levy investment, project ideas are also assessed against an industry’s priorities, as laid out in its Strategic Investment Plan.

While going through Hort Innovation’s concept pipelines, concepts for procurement can be filtered and potentially combined to maximise return on investment for industries and ensure that levy funds are generating the best benefits for growers. Once approval to invest in a concept has been granted, a Request for Proposal (RFP) is prepared that asks delivery partners to provide submissions addressing key criteria. Responses to these RFPS are evaluated against these criteria.

If you’d like to know more about the way ideas turn into investment through Hort Innovation’s concept pipeline, have a look at this video on its website. If you’d like to talk to Hort Innovation about the processes behind your levy investment, get in touch with your industry’s relationship manager.

This post appeared in the AUSVEG Weekly Update published 14 February 2018.