COVID-19

Europe’s food system has come under unprecedented pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has required an urgent and coordinated response. As Europe’s leading food innovation initiative, EIT Food launched two initiatives to support the agrifood sector in its time of need.

As part of the EIT’s Crisis Response Initiative, these activities directly contribute to the European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, EIT Food launched two funding opportunities to support the European agrifood sector through the COVID-19 crisis:

1. COVID-19 Bridge Fund – the aim of this Call was to support startups and scaleups with high-impact and growth potential that have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic;
2. COVID-19 Rapid Response Call for Innovation projects – the aim of this Call was to help accelerate impactful projects that address business and consumer needs throughout the food system in Europe

EIT unlocked 60 million euros to support its Crisis Response Initiative. After evaluation of the submitted Call for Proposals by the EIT Governing Board, EIT Food was awarded 10.25 million euros.

EIT Food COVID-19 funding has directly supported the growth of 13 innovative agrifood startups and resulted in the launch of products and services from eight innovation projects to market by the end of 2021. The investments were part of the EIT’s Crisis Response Initiative, which directly contributed to the European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The growth and innovations developed are helping to support recovery from the pandemic by providing bridge funding for startups and scaleups adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and by funding innovations addressing needs related to improving nutrition, supply chain disruption and food safety risks.