Seafish is inviting organisations and individuals with ideas that could foster growth and innovation in the UK seafood industry, to apply for funding up to that has been allocated for the 2009 Industry Project Fund (IPF).

The Seafish Industry Project Fund is now in its fourth year, supporting research and development partnership projects, grant assistance for innovative ideas and bursaries for students. The Fund is designed to support work that has widespread benefit to the industry and is dedicated to raising standards and improving efficiency within the UK seafood industry. Based on last year's figures, funding for this round of IPF will result in projects valued at nearly £3m.

This year there are some fundamental changes to the way the Fund will operate. Concept Evaluation Forms have been introduced as the first step for recording initial ideas. After first discussing the idea with a member of the Seafish staff, applicants need to provide a short description of the proposed work, which will allow the idea's merit and eligibility to be assessed.

The Concept Evaluation Form will be evaluated by a Seafish Executive Review Group that will decide on the merit of the concept and whether the concept should be worked up into a full proposal. Following a successful evaluation the applicant will be asked to complete a more detailed Project Proposal Form that will be subjected to a formal review process.

Instead of inviting applications in tranches as previously the main application period extends from mid June through to mid November. During this period ideas are generated, Concept Evaluation Forms are submitted and reviewed, and successful applicants are requested to submit full Project Proposals. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their proposals in late March, and any funding awarded will be available from April 2009. Successful applicants will then be contacted by a Seafish Project Manager.

Concept Evaluation Forms can be submitted all year round but forms received after November will only be considered for funding in the next round in 2010.

"Now is the time to be speaking with your Seafish contacts and pulling together those initial ideas," said Paul Williams, Research Director at Seafish. "The new website http://sin.seafish.org will be our new one-stop-shop for information. This collaborative site will allow us to store information and background details on all projects."