EIT Food Offers up to €60,000 for Agrifood Startups to Test Innovative Solutions

EIT Food has opened applications for its Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Co-Financing Instrument, offering up to €60,000 in financial support to agrifood startups and small companies looking to test and validate their innovative solutions in collaboration with corporate partners.

The initiative aims to reduce the financial risks associated with early-stage commercial collaborations and help innovative agrifood technologies, products and services reach the market faster. 

The instrument supports proof-of-concept activities and small-scale pilot projects carried out jointly by startups and prospective corporate customers. Projects must demonstrate clear commercial potential and a realistic pathway towards market entry or expansion.

The ultimate goal is to turn promising innovations into commercially viable solutions and encourage long-term partnerships between startups and established industry players.

Who can apply?

The call is open to micro and small companies that have been legally established for at least 12 months in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe eligible country. Applicants must have an innovative technology, product or service aligned with EIT Food’s missions and a prospective corporate customer interested in testing their solution.

The corporate partner must generally have an annual turnover of at least €1 billion. Companies below this threshold may also qualify if they can demonstrate established and verifiable open innovation capabilities.

Applications must be submitted by a single company, and EIT Food partnership is not required.

Funding and application deadline

The programme offers up to €60,000 per project, with a maximum project duration of 12 months.

The corporate customer is required to enter into a separate agreement with EIT Food and contribute a fee equivalent to 60% of the project budget.

The application deadline is 30 November 2026 at 12:00 CET (13:00 Estonian time).

Applications must be submitted through the MyEITFood online portal.

Learn more and apply

Watch the webinar recording on the EIT Food website — scroll down to the section “View the webinar for more details”.

For full details, application guidelines and supporting documents, visit the official EIT Food Proof-of-Concept Co-Financing Instrument call page.