UK and Colombia set up £20m bioeconomy programme

The UK and Colombia have launched a bioeconomy research programme funded with £20 million from the Newton-Caldas fund.

The agreement for the Colombia Bio programme was signed at a meeting at the Natural History Museum in London by Nick Hurd, the UK’s minister for industry and climate change, and Yaneth Giha, director of the Colombian national research agency Colciencias.

The initiative will be funded from the Newton-Caldas Fund—the Newton Fund’s brand in Colombia. It will support research into the development of drugs, biofertilisers and products to tackle pollution, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said in a statement published on 2 November.