Sophie Packer connects food and drink businesses with researchers at the University of Kent to help them with a wide range of research projects, from sustainable packaging through to healthier soils. With a wealth of experience in grant funding, Sophie is also on hand to match businesses to the right grants and support applications.
As one of three Innovation Growth Managers in the Growing Kent and Medway consortium, Sophie develops and delivers collaborative projects with businesses and researchers, driving impactful innovation in the plant-based food and drink sector within the region.
Sophie’s role as Innovation Growth Manager is to engage with businesses and provide a link to the activities and services we offer across the whole Growing Kent & Medway programme. Sophie can guide companies on which areas of Growing Kent & Medway support (mentoring, facilities, research expertise, or grants) are most relevant to their new or existing products, services or processes in the horticultural, food, and beverage sectors.
We are always looking for industry partners that we can collaborate with or support. Our subject experts are leaders in their field having real-world experience of delivering innovative solutions and have helped businesses with: increasing productivity; growth in sales; reducing costs; developing new products and services; collaborative access to funding; access to facilities including labs and equipment; and access to our student placements and graduate recruitment.
If you’re interested in finding out how the Biotechnology Hub and research specialists at the University of Kent could work with you to support your business, please get in touch with Sophie. Contact: s.packer@kent.ac.uk