EIT Food Country Representatives are members of the EIT Community Hubs in their respective countries. They are independent organisations appointed to connect national agrifood ecosystems in Southern and Eastern Europe with EIT Food’s ecosystem, activities, and opportunities. A central part of their role is to build strong pipelines of agrifood startups for EIT Food’s entrepreneurship programmes by scouting promising ventures, engaging incubators and accelerators, and providing handson support during application processes. They also attract learners to EIT Food’s education initiatives, including the EIT Food Master in Food Systems and the EU Skills Academies in Biotechnology and Resilient Agriculture. In addition, EIT Food Country Representatives help strengthen national innovation networks by facilitating collaboration, sharing information about relevant opportunities, and delivering activities that build innovation and entrepreneurship capacity within the agrifood sector. This appointment is part of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS), one of EIT’s key measures to broaden participation in the EIT Community and address regional disparities in innovation capacity.