Open Call for EIT Food Impact Funding Framework

Deadline: 10-Jul-25

Applications are now open for Impact Funding Framework to promote ambitious, long-term collaboration that will lead to food systems change to benefit them all.

Types of Grant

• Collaborative Missions Programmes:
  • EIT Food already runs a significant portfolio of funding activity, regional community engagement and “Infrastructure Programmes”. These programmes help to focus effort and support positive impact in areas such as knowledge exchange, skills and capability building; entrepreneur development; new business growth and investment; public engagement; and innovation management.
  • They welcome proposals to form new collaborative programmes that build upon, link and amplify these capabilities, and give them new routes and approaches to achieve even more impact in these areas in line with their Mission Targets. They are always interested in programmes which identify and solve barriers where long-term structural issues affect progress towards Mission Targets.
  • Programmes should connect key companies, research organisations, social enterprises, associations, regions and other stakeholders across relevant economic, industry and social value chains. Engaging beneficiaries or challenge owners with well-defined impact needs should be central to your programme objectives.
  • You should also outline how you wish to engage with EIT Food leadership and network to ensure maximum alignment, synergies or explicit complementarities with existing capabilities and activities with minimum duplication. They wish to actively work with your consortium leadership to steer, direct and connect new platforms to multiply their impact, KPI achievement and influence.
• Single Project Co-funding Opportunity:
  • You will often see them talking about the impact of their work. By this, they mean the identifiable benefits that people, businesses, organisations or society in general will experience through the work they fund.
  • This funding call is aimed at creating greater, combined impact from their portfolio of investments by targeting improvements in certain points of the food system. Your proposal should address one or more of the following challenges:
    • Regenerative Agriculture:
      • De-risk transition to Regenerative Agriculture for farmers, incl. carbon farming and carbon pricing
      • Enable & incentivise reductions in Scope 3 emissions
      • Reduce food loss
      • Reduce occurrence and risks in water scarcity/management
      • Reduce cost of Regenerative Agriculture transition to business and consumers
      •  Demonstrate improvement in Soil Health & Biodiversity
    • Protein Diversification:
      • Collaborative reformulation, involving primary producers, processors, retailers & “out-of-home” business.
      • Increased availability of affordable, nutritious, sustainable food products targeting NCD risks in key markets & demographics
      • Improved production and manufacturing processes to reduce environmental impacts
      • Adoption of new business models enabled through Protein Diversification
      • Education and awareness programmes on the benefits of a diverse protein diet
    • Labeling, Packaging & Transparency:
      • Digitally enabled, communication of food product integrity & supply chain to consumers
      • Digital tools along value chains to reduce cost & complexity in producing standardised score-based food labels
      •  Increased uptake of affordable, nutritious, sustainable food products targeting NCD risks in key markets & demographics
      • Improved manufacturing processes to supply more food products building economic value from food waste and side streams
      • Inform and increase consumer demand for circular economy benefits from food choices

Funding Information

• Collaborative Missions Programmes:
  • For guidance purposes, they anticipate total programme grant budget requested from EIT Food will be a contribution of no more than €1,000,000 per year for up to 2 years towards a maximum of 70% of the total costs of your programme.
• Single Project Co-funding Opportunity:
  • They expect to fund commercial projects under thisscheme with EIT grant funding of up to €1,000,000 per project over a period of no longer than 18 months initially.

Eligibility Criteria

• Collaborative Missions Programmes:
  • Funding for this Request for Implementing Participants is available to all organisation from Member States of the European Union (EU) and from Horizon Europe Associate Countries
• Organisation Eligibility
  • Each participating organisation must:
    • Be a legally incorporated entity in one of the EU or Horizon Europe eligible countries for a minimum of one year. One-person legal entities are not eligible to participate in this call.
    • Have at least one year published accounts showing business Activity.
    • Provide a PIC Number

For more information, visit EIT Food.