EIT Food is launching an open funding call which will bring innovative technology solutions to the market

EIT Food is the world’s largest food innovation community, and we are accelerating innovation to build a future-fit food system that produces healthy and sustainable food for all. 

We believe that inclusive systems innovation, which enables all people and places to participate and benefit, is essential to a strong food system that is better for everyone. This requires us all to work together to come up with innovative solutions to the huge food challenges our world is currently facing.  

Supported by the EU, we invest in projects, organisations and individuals that share our goals for a healthy and sustainable food system. This is helping us to unlock innovation potential in businesses and universities and create and scale agrifood startups to bring new technologies and products to market. 

The innovation projects we support are delivered with a combination of industry, education and research partners to improve environmental and health outcomes by developing solutions in the most promising innovation areas. This joined-up approach helps us to ensure that solutions are designed to take into account the diverse perspectives of different actors in the food chain. The innovation areas we focus on include alternative proteins, circular food systems, digital traceability, sustainable agriculture, sustainable aquaculture and targeted nutrition. 

A new innovation funding call, open to everyone 

For the past five years, EIT Food has launched a series of innovation funding calls, which have been open to current members of our community. This has resulted in a wealth of impactful initiatives and projects which are making a real difference to the agrifood industry. But we want to go one step further. 

We believe we have a responsibility to maximise the societal, economic and environmental impact of ideas and consortia that we fund. We are also committed to inclusive systems innovation, and we are now in a position to launch an open funding call for consortia of organisations to submit proposals for collaborative activities which will bring innovative solutions to the market in the agrifood sector. We are interested in proposals which will contribute to the achievement of one or more of EIT Food’s Impact Goals: 

• Improve conditions for enhanced public trust in the food system.  
• Reduce the relative risk of obesity and Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) prevalence in target populations due to known dietary factors.  
• Improve environmental impact of agrifood systems.  
• Enable transition to a circular and sustainable economy.  

Paola Giavedoni, Director of Innovation at EIT Food said: "Through this new funding call, we will support the development and application of advanced research, technology solutions and transformative business ideas and practices which strive to solve major systemic barriers to impact within the food system. Together with our community, we will build an innovative and resilient food system that in turn creates a healthier society and planet.” 

The deadline for proposals is 14 January 2022, 23:59 CET. Please see our website for full details of the call criteria and submission process.