Technology Grants
Innovate Animal Ag’s Technology Grants program aims to support the most promising new technologies in animal agriculture. We work with the innovators in every stage of the innovation pipeline, from initial R&D, commercial validation, to scale up. Our goal is to ensure that no new technology is left in the ‘valley of death’ between academic discovery and commercial adoption.
To support this holistic approach to technological development, we take an active approach to grantmaking: for each technology that we support, we will stay involved at every stage of development until the technology has reached its full potential. Grantees will also have access to Innovate Animal Ag’s expertise and vast network across animal agriculture and Silicon Valley.
Previous Grants
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Awarded amount: $100,000
Recipient: Dr. Adnan Alrubaye, University of Arkansas
Description: For many years, antibiotics played a crucial role for animal health in the poultry industry. However, in 2012 the FDA issued new guidance restricting the use of antibiotics in livestock production. Over the subsequent decade, antibiotic usage on farms decreased substantially and coinciding with this, all-cause-mortality increased from a low of 3.7% to almost 6%.
While a reduction in medically important antibiotics has been important to help stop the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, the new FDA guidance has left producers with fewer tools to protect birds against bacterial pathogens. E-beams offer a new path forward to improve bird health without antibiotics. E-beams inactivate bacteria through targeted destruction of only the DNA, leaving surface proteins intact. Compared to other chemical inactivation methods, e-beam inactivated vaccines have shown to be much more effective in initial academic studies.
Dr. Alrubaye’s lab at the University of Arkansas has already shown remarkable early results in mitigating one of the primary bacterially-derived health issues for poultry: BCO lameness. Their e-beam inactivated staphylococcus vaccine reduced BCO lameness by 50%. IAA’s initial grant will go towards supporting this important research.
Looking ahead, the true potential of the technology lies in its ability to protect birds against the full range of negative health effects that are caused by bacterial pathogens. To support this work, Innovate Animal Ag is looking for commercial partners to run a large-scale commercial trial to assess the impact of e-beam vaccines on other broiler performance metrics such as feed conversion ratio and growth rate.
Pitch Us
We are excited to support technologies with transformative potential—solutions to major producer challenges, especially around animal health and welfare, that also have a compelling business case (clear ROI, path to adoption, and operational fit). We’re open to any kind of solution—hardware, software, biological, on-farm practices, or new business models—even unconventional ones, as long as it meets the criteria above.
While poultry is a focus, we welcome pitches across animal agriculture, including swine, cattle, dairy, aquaculture, and beyond. We’re also stage-agnostic and are happy to partner with academics, startups, established companies, and entrepreneurs. Whether you’re at proof-of-concept or ready to scale, we want to hear from you. In addition to non-dilutive grants, we can consider for-profit investment for technologies at the right stage of development.
If you’re interested in applying for a grant, please reach out to grants@innovateanimalag.org. In your initial email, please include 1-2 paragraphs on each of the following:
An overview of how the technology works, preferably in plain English
The producer challenges it addresses.
The potential business case for the technology.
Any additional information you believe is important.
Our goal is to minimize the time innovators spend on this initial application. We will follow up with additional requests for information if we believe it could be a good fit.