Your business innovation must be underpinned by a science or technology with a proof of concept, or pilot project execution. It must also fall under one of EIT Food’s key focus areas

To apply for EIT FAN you must be a registered company established in an EU member state, or Horizon Europe associated countries (NB This includes the UK!). Your company must be at a pre-seed stage (you must not have closed a Series A investment round yet), and ideally, it has successfully completed customer validation and is able to demonstrate traction, for example, through letters of support, sales, or signed letters of intent

Switzerland and UK-based companies are eligible to apply. However, eligibility to receive funding will be determined based on Switzerland’s and UK’s eligibility status for EU funding at that time

Programme Applications are open from the beginning of January to the end of February each year, and all applications are evaluated from March-May. Up to 60 startup teams considered to have the highest impact potential are then selected to join the new cohort. Our regional hubs run the programme from June to October and all selected, participating teams are required to attend regular training sessions during its course

No, you don’t! EIT FAN operates in different locations across Europe. Each startup team is asked to select the hubs that are most appropriate for them as part of the programme application process

All selected, participating teams are required to commit at least 10 hours a week during the course of the programme. To take advantage of all what the EIT Food Accelerator Network has to offer, and to minimise travel (due to Covid-19 restrictions), our hubs facilitate the programme mostly online. Simply choose the elements that work best for you: the online events to attend, the mentors to meet with, the partners to network with, and the information sessions to participate in. Whilst we offer this flexible approach, we DO expect at least one team member to remain active, and to be engaged with the programme during its full course, from when it starts in June, until it ends in October. Please note, each hub varies in how they design and structure the FAN programme so please contact a specific regional hub for more information.

Applications are assessed based on the understanding of the food system problem, its commercial solution, and your company’s fit with our ecosystem. Equally important is the potential impact of the innovation, its technology readiness, the business model, its USP, and the dynamics of the founding team

Please refer to our programme Terms & Conditions for more detailed information.  

All judging panels consist of experienced entrepreneurs and experts from the agriculture and food industries

No, any company that is creating an impact at any point along the food supply chain is invited to apply to this programme. Does your business innovation help to make our global food system more sustainable, healthy, and trusted? Then yes, we want to hear from you!

The EIT FAN offers funding of up to €10,000 along with the opportunity to access follow-on EIT Food funding and support through EIT Food’s Impact Fund. More information on this fund can be found here

We provide direct access to experts who fundamentally understand the commercial potential of science and technology in the agrifood sector. You will be joining Europe’s largest agrifood startup community to receive continuous support from other like-minded entrepreneurs, with endless opportunities to share knowledge and work closely with our world-leading industry partners.

At the end of the programme, each cohort team is automatically enrolled as EIT FAN Alumni and then invited to pursue opportunities for further pilot projects and follow-on funding, to support their commercial roadmap, which may include pivoting or spinning out with suitable identified partners. There is also the possibility to become an EIT Food RisingFoodStar, which supports the scaling of impactful agrifood startups to enter international markets.