ONE SeedPod – SRUC Aberdeen

ONE SeedPod is Scotland’s Food & Drink Innovation Hub operated by Opportunity North East (ONE) and opened with its first tenant in July 2025. It is a home for ambitious food and drink businesses to innovate, commercialise and grow faster.

Scroll down to discover more

Project summary

ONE SeedPod, Scotland’s Food & Drink Innovation Hub, is a home for ambitious food and drink businesses to innovate, commercialise and grow faster and will deliver regional and national growth ambitions for Scotland’s Food & Drink industry.

The £27m investment is a hub for businesses to scale production, develop new products, test innovative processes, and access industry expertise, entrepreneurial education and mentoring developed by ONE and partners.

SRUC is the strategic partner of ONE SeedPod and provided the serviced site on the Aberdeen Campus.

ONE SeedPod is a £27 million investment in the growth of the food and drink manufacturing industry. The Aberdeen City Region Deal industry innovation project is led and co-funded by Opportunity North East (ONE) with funding from the UK Government, Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, and the Just Transition Fund.

Visit the ONE SeedPod website

Facilities at ONE SeedPod

ONE SeedPod is a vibrant space where ambitious food and drink businesses can access a suite of facilities to grow faster, including:

11 purpose-built, food-safe manufacturing kitchens varying in size from 850-1200 sq ft.
new product development kitchens, designed for experimentation and early-stage product/process testing. These flexible and adaptable spaces are ideal for research & development.
a professional demonstration kitchen for showcasing products, ideal for launch events, branded media creation, or trade buyer presentations.
pilot plant and process testing spaces for new process, plant and equipment demonstrations to support trials, testing and innovation.
meeting rooms, event spaces, and hot desking opportunities.

ONE SeedPod is home to an entrepreneurial community designed to support food and drink innovators, business founders and leaders at every stage from early scale-up to international expansion.

ONE SeedPod tenants and users can access expertise on-site including the ONE SeedPod Technical Manager and ONE SeedPod Development Chef, and support available from Opportunity North East, Scotland Food and Drink (SFD), SRUC, and other partners.

Our role

SRUC as key strategic partners in the building can support users and the community of food and drink businesses with access to:

SRUC led events and workshops in the event space.
researchers in SRUC and academic partners including access to innovation funding and funding calls for collaboration with SRUC, universities and research centres.
student placements and other student-related projects.
consultancy services through SAC Consulting including business support services, sustainability and net zero services.

ONE SeedPod to boost high-value food and drink manufacturing

The ONE SeedPod food and drink industry innovation hub to boost high-value manufacturing has been launched at SRUC’s Craibstone Campus in Aberdeen. The project, led by Opportunity North East (ONE), is the single largest public-private investment in the growth of Scotland’s food and drink manufacturing sector.

SeedPod marks construction milestone

The new SeedPod industry innovation hub for north-east Scotland’s £2.4 billion food manufacturing sector has marked a major construction milestone.

Work starts on ONE SeedPod innovation hub for food and drink manufacturing

Work to create ONE SeedPod – the transformational industry innovation hub for Scotland’s food and drink industry – has started in Aberdeen, following the completion of the capital funding package and award of the construction contract.

Food and drink event for north east businesses

Businesses interested in learning about innovative food-and-drink-associated research in the north east of Scotland are invited to a free event later this month.

Seedpod project reaches key milestone

A planning application for the £21 million Seedpod industry development hub at Craibstone has been submitted to Aberdeen City Council.

North East Centre of Excellence for Food and Drink Industry

A food and drink development hub for the north east of Scotland has secured £10 million of capital funding from the UK and Scottish Governments.

Study with us

With hundreds of courses across more than 20 disciplines, we provide the skills, experience and confidence you need to create a successful career.

Learn more

Business Services

Our business services work across food supply chains and the natural economy to help clients rise to the challenge of climate change and scientific and technological transformation.

Learn more