Deadline: 5-Jun-23
Applications are now open for CEE Open Innovation Call for Accelerating innovation to create positive change in the food system.
Purpose of the call
- They seek to tackle the significant issues of the agrifood supply chain in the CEE region, namely:
- Pressure on the supply chain
- The Russian invasion of Ukraine further destabilised the agrifood sector in Europe, already impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. Due to the war´s proximity, the whole CEE region has been negatively impacted. Missing links in the food supply chain have caused increasing disruption and damage to the food system.
- Low investment in intellectual property
- The CEE agri-food sector has gone through radical changes over last 3 decades. However, it is still characterized by low investments in intellectual property. Companies do not invest enough in RDI and collaboration with the innovators (including academia, research, startups) is not sufficient. The lack of communication and cooperation between researchers who work on innovations and businesses who use, implement, or commercialize them, is a significant barrier of progress.
- Lack of intra- and inter- sectoral cooperation
- The CEE agrifood sector is characterized by a low vertical and horizontal integration. Instead of working in a collaborative way, companies are working individually and do not share information.
- Need for investment in sustainability
- The EU Green Deal and Bioeconomy are the most important and integrative concepts for the agrifood ecosystem at this moment. Digitalisation and technological advancement can and should be used to mitigate the agrifood sector´s climate impact.
- Pressure on the supply chain
Funding Information and Duration
- The maximum support for each recipient is 750 000 EUR.
- Activity duration is variable according to the nature and maturity of the proposed innovation. However, proposals may not request more than 24 months of funding.
What are they looking for?
- They seek activities:
- implemented by consortia, that will bridge different sectors and enhance intersectoral collaborations.
- which can be applied universally and significantly impact the food supply chain within selected industry/industries.
- encompassing open standards, protocols, tools, and technologies to promote collaboration and the potential for innovative solutions. They prefer to support solutions with open access; however, it is not obligatory.
- that will put new products on the market, introduce new and improved commercial processes and services.
- that help achieve EIT Food´s Missions:
- Healthier Lives Through Food
- A Net Zero Food System
- A Fully Transparent, Fair and Resilient Food System
Eligibility Criteria
- Funding for this call is available to all organisations, both EIT Food partners and new applicants, from the following eligible EU Member States: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Horizon Europe Associated Countries: Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine.
- Each participating organisation must:
- Be a legally incorporated entity in one of the EU or Horizon Europe eligible country listed above for a minimum of 3 years.
- Have at least 3 years’ published accounts showing business Activity.
- To be eligible consortia must:
- Have at least 3 eligible organisations committed to collaborating between 2 different eligible countries, representing at least two sides of the knowledge triangle, with at least one industry organisation
- Each of the three organisations must be active participants in the consortium, showing a role, commiserate with the level of budget, and should not fall under the same ownership
- At least one Exploiting Party/Parties responsible for commercial exploitation resulting from the Activity
- To be eligible proposals must:
- Be complete, with all mandatory supporting documents uploaded.
- Be submitted on time via the submission template, in English.
- Proposals must be committed to delivering one or more near-to-market, commercially viable innovative technology solutions (goods, services, processes, or products).
- Contribute to the EIT Food Missions
- Align with one or more EIT Focus Areas
- Have an innovation with a minimum Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL)
For more information, visit EIT Food.