At a reception at the House of Lords on 3 February 2026, the UK Agri-Tech Centre set out new priorities centred squarely on accelerating the commercial success of agritech startups and scaleups. Under new CEO Steve McLean, the message was clear: innovation alone is not enough — commercial viability must sit at the heart of the journey.
Addressing stakeholders, McLean outlined a strategic reset designed to build a vibrant UK agritech sector that strengthens agricultural resilience and sustainability.
“As we step into the next chapter, I think about the UK Agri-Tech Centre role in three different ways,” he said. “We will be customer focused, commercially minded, and we will connect with real purpose.”
De-Risking Innovation For Investors
A central pillar of the refreshed direction is de-risking.
The centre intends to provide critical assurance for investors by ensuring innovations are market-ready, fit for purpose and commercially viable before they scale. This will be achieved through enhanced access to resources that enable startups to test, validate and demonstrate proof-of-concept and return on investment in real-world environments.
It is a shift from simply supporting ideas to actively supporting investable propositions.
The organisation has also strengthened its industry and supply chain brokerage role, forging connections designed to accelerate adoption at scale and move the best UK agritech innovations into practical commercial application.
Positioned For A Frontier Sector
McLean framed the strategy within a wider national context.
“As we enter a new technological era driven by data, automation, robotics, and AI, the agritech sector is poised for growth,” he said. “The recognition of agritech as a Frontier Sector in the Government’s 10-year Modern Industrial Strategy elevates its importance across the economy, and sets our context and our purpose.”
“Our goal is clear: to make the UK one of the world’s most successful environments for agritech innovation, attracting and growing the most capable, impactful ventures.
“We will support the agritech sector in achieving its full potential by accelerating the commercialisation and scaleup of UK agritech ventures, by enabling access to advice, connection and capabilities. Our role in supporting agritech ventures on their growth path will support them in achieving commercial success with viable businesses.”
Helen Brookes, director at the UK Agri-Trade Centre, reinforced the commercial emphasis.
“Our focus is really to support UK businesses and ventures, and that’s really making sure that we are enabling real opportunities and real support, to not just develop products, but also to enable businesses to be commercial in their own right, because that’s going to really deliver growth against our government strategy and also align with the industrial strategy,” she said.
More Than 300 Businesses Supported
To date, the UK Agri-Tech Centre has supported more than 300 UK agritech businesses. The organisation’s forward plan includes continued business support, expanded test, trial and demonstration capability, and wider sector engagement to tackle barriers to innovation, investment constraints and international scaling challenges.
Speaking at the House of Lords reception, Andrew Lessey, COO of Antler Bio, described the centre’s involvement as foundational.
“The UK Agri-Tech centre, and initially CL before they merged, have been crucial for us,” he said. “We’ve worked with them pretty much from day one, when we made the pivot to looking at epigenetics in dairy cattle.
“They have been instrumental in helping us formulate what is a commercial product and offering, helping us to understand what the mindset and requirements of UK farmers are, what the industry challenges are, where the areas of focus should be, and then help us shape and give us feedback on a product that we were trying to bring to market and make a commercial success. So they’ve been instrumental, I would say, from day one, in helping put guardrails around us and keeping us on the right track.”
Growth Week Spotlight
The House of Lords reception formed part of the UK Agri-Tech Centre’s Growth Week, an initiative designed to help agritech businesses overcome barriers to expansion while showcasing supported success stories.
With McLean — formerly Head of Agriculture & Fisheries at Marks & Spencer — now at the helm, the centre is positioning itself as a catalyst for making the UK an agritech powerhouse.
As Lord Donald Curry told attendees: “We can look forward to an exciting, bright future with much greater collaboration, working together across the piece with key organisations to deliver what we need as a sector. And I’m sure the UK Agri-Tech Centre is going to be a crucial motivator and participant in that process.”
The direction of travel is clear: commercial discipline, stronger connections and real-world validation are set to define the next phase of UK agritech growth.
