EIT Food pushes for food system change

Sustainable, safe and healthy

EIT Food (European Institute of Innovation and Technology for Food) is a pan-European partnership of companies, universities and research centers that aims to create a high-quality food sector. This is within the framework of the European “Farm to Fork” strategy. The vision here is a world in which everyone has access to sustainable, safe and healthy food. EIT Food is looking for projects that bring new products to market, introduce and realize new and improved commercial processes and services. It pursues the following missions where realizing impact is central:

• healthier lives through food: such as increasing the availability of food with an improved nutritional profile for consumers
• a net-zero food system: including reducing CO2 in the food system (measured in tons)
• a fully transparent, fair and resilient food system: such as reducing estimated costs associated with food insecurity and food safety issues.

Who can apply?

Organizations from EU Member States and Associated Countries are eligible to apply. A consortium submits the application. Consortia must consist of at least three eligible organizations from at least two eligible countries. At least one consortium partner must be an operating party launching the new or improved innovative solution (product, service, startup, process). This operating party must be an existing, officially registered business entity at the time of submission.

The consortium should contribute to the integration of the “knowledge triangle,” representing different areas of the food system, by involving organizations from at least two areas of the knowledge triangle:

• education/academia
• research
• business/industry

Organizations submitting a project proposal do not need to be partners of EIT Food. However, they do automatically become partners once they receive a grant.

EIT Food: grants for various activities

EIT Food invites consortia of organizations to submit project proposals focused on innovative technological solutions for the agrifood sector. On top of traditional R&D projects close to the market, grants are among other activities available for:

• existing research project teams that have a commercialization plan that needs follow-on funding to get to market
• developing new applications for existing technology – transferring proven technology from other sectors to the food industry
• conducting proof-of-concept activities for potentially high-impact products or services
• conducting market demonstration and scale-up activities for high-impact technology or services that have already produced promising results.

Deadline, grant amount and budget

The second submission round of the 2023 Open Innovation call has a deadline of April 13. The EIT Food call falls under Horizon Europe, the ambitious EU grant program for research and innovation. Project proposals must therefore meet Horizon Europe’s conditions. Projects may have a maximum duration of 24 months. The maximum grant amount per project is 70% of the eligible costs. The maximum grant amount is 600,000 euros for a 12-month project and 1.2 million euros for a 24-month project. The available grant budget is 5 million euros.

What must a proposal meet?

A project proposal must meet the following conditions:

• It must be a technological innovation that is commercially viable, close to the market and aligned with EIT Food’s focus areas, challenges and impact framework.
• The innovation must be at least in the development stage (TRL level 5 or higher) at the time of submission.
• The project must lead to at least one innovative solution with a realized revenue of at least 10,000 euros within no later than six months from the official end date of the activity.
• Consortia must continuously disseminate the results of their activities: number of results, good practices and lessons learned.

Excellence is decisive

A panel of external experts evaluates project proposals that meet all eligibility criteria. The evaluation has two stages, Part A and Part B. After evaluating and ranking the proposals in Part A, the panel assesses the proposals that advance to Part B (up to thirty), based on various criteria. Excellence is decisive at 40% in both phases.

Get in touch with us

Would you like to know more about our services and how we can help you? Please let us know and we will get in touch with you!