Initiative offers financial support for novel approaches and enabling technologies in crop research - Bayer opens application window for Grants4Ag

Bayer announced on Monday that it has opened the application window for its Grants4Ag initiative. First introduced in 2015, the initiative has evolved in 2020 to offer researchers financial and scientific support to develop ideas for novel solutions across all research and development areas in the Division of Crop Science. Deadline for submissions is October 31, 2020.

“Our previous Grants4 programs succeeded in attracting top proposals in targeted niches – particularly biotech traits and biologicals,” said Phil Taylor, Open Innovation Business Partner for the Crop Science division. “The new Grants4Ag model expands the reach to a greater number of potential applicants, and therefore more diverse innovations.”

As with previous Grants4 programs, there are no formal reporting requirements and applicants retain ownership of any intellectual property developed. Taylor says the company views these grants as an initial investment with the potential to become larger-scale, longer-term collaborations with Bayer.

In addition to the grants (typically ranging from 5,000 to 15,000 euros), each recipient will be partnered up with a Bayer scientist who will provide guidance and feedback on the project. Previous grant recipients say the latter sets the Grants4 program apart from traditional funding programs.

“The Bayer Grants4 program is easy to apply for and allows us to test technologies with feasibility experiments whose results can bridge current and future projects,” said Hank W. Bass, Professor of Biological Science at Florida State University, who was awarded a grant in 2019 to study corn plants’ response to flooding.

In total, last year’s grants program received submissions from 17 countries around the world. A total of 21 grants were awarded.

For the 2020 Grants4Ag submission period, Bayer is partnering with Halo, a marketplace that helps companies connect with scientists through an intuitive, streamlined interface.

“We created Halo to help companies discover and collaborate with scientists to solve today’s challenges and stay a step ahead of tomorrow’s,” said Kevin Leland, CEO and Founder of Halo. "Bayer has long been a champion of open innovation and we’re thrilled to be powering this latest search so even more scientists from universities and startups can benefit from its resources and industry knowledge.”