Food Innovation Wales

Supports Food Innovation Wales, a Welsh network helping food and drink firms build new products and manufacturing capability.

Food Innovation Wales is the Welsh Government-funded delivery network for Welsh food and drink businesses. It brings together ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre, Food Centre Wales, the Food Technology Centre and AberInnovation under the Project HELIX banner.

Support is in-kind rather than cash: product development, manufacturing process optimisation, food-safety certification support such as BRCGS and SALSA, and marketing intelligence for eligible Welsh food and drink SMEs. Project HELIX has been funded solely by the Welsh Government since July 2023, after the end of EU structural-fund co-funding, and the network is described as free at the point of use.

Since 2016 the programme has delivered more than GBP 676 million in cumulative financial impact to the sector. The public-facing value proposition is technical capability and commercial readiness, not grantmaking, which makes the network a delivery vehicle for applied support across Wales and gives it local reach from Cardiff to Aberystwyth and north Wales.