Project HELIX, which provides technical and commercial support to the Welsh food and drink industry, has reported that it has delivered over £355 million impact to the sector since it launched in 2016.
As a result of its success, the Welsh Government have announced Project HELIX will continue to assist the sector until March 2025.
The project is a pan-Wales strategic initiative delivered by Food Innovation Wales, a partnership of three food centres based in north, mid/west and south Wales. Eligible companies have access to a range of assistance which the Welsh Government claims helps them to be more innovative, efficient and strategic – including support with new product development, waste reduction, and food safety certification such as SALSA and BRCGS.
Project HELIX will now be able to support larger manufacturers in Wales alongside the small and medium-sized enterprises and microbusinesses who have already been supported by the project.
Creating jobs and opening market access since 2016
Project HELIX’s latest outputs demonstrate that it has delivered benefits to the Welsh food and drink industry, including:
- £355 million impact
- 683 jobs created and a further 3647 safeguarded
- 703 businesses supported
- 1391 training days delivered for 1184 participants
- 452 new business assisted
- 1110 new markets accessed, and
- 2082 new food and drink products developed
Figures from 2022, which showed that the project had a £235 million impact on the Welsh food and drink industry since 2016, also revealed an increase of £120 million in the previous year. A further 174 jobs have been created since 2022, and 495 new food and drink products were developed.
Professor David Lloyd, on behalf of Food Innovation Wales, said: “Since it launched in 2016, Project HELIX has had a very positive effect on Wales’s food and drink industry by helping companies to adopt a more innovative, efficient and strategic approach. This can be seen in its £355 million impact as well as the number of new jobs it has helped to create and safeguard, the skills boost it has provided to Wales’s workforce, and the number of new products developed with its assistance.
Further information about Project HELIX can be found here: https://foodinnovation.wales/funded-support/
