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

You can apply for the Seedbed Incubator as a project team or as a registered company. A project team must consist of at least two individuals with complementary skills and experiences, and at least one member must be a citizen or resident of an EU member state, or associated countries. If you are a solo researcher or an academic currently without any team members, you must still have support from at least one member of your Technology Transfer Office for the duration of the programme (and include these details in your application).

If you are applying as a registered company, your company must be established in an EU member state, or associated countries. (Tooltip or hover to see member state, and associated countries).

The programme runs from July to December each year. Applications are open from January 1st – end of February. All applications are evaluated from March – May, for teams with high impact potential to be shortlisted to attend a 4-day bootcamp in June. After a final pitch, 40 successful teams are then selected to join the cohort, and each team must commit at least 10 hours a week of their time to working on the full programme course.

No. The programme operates in hub locations that account for five different european regions, and it is delivered in a hybrid format. In most cases teams are assigned to the hub that’s nearest to them, however in certain cases teams can also choose the most appropriate hub for them in terms of their specialism, and we assess this on an individual case.

Applications are assessed by evaluators based on the problem validation and commercial solution, the impact potential of the innovation, its technology readiness, the proposed business model, its USP, and the core team dynamic, experience, and motivations.

Seedbed offers funding of up to €6,000; plus the opportunity to access follow-on EIT Food funding and support through the Startup Launch Grant. Find out more here

Seedbed provides direct access to experts who fundamentally understand the commercial potential of a technology in the agrifood sector. You will also be joining Europe’s largest agrifood startup community to share knowledge and receive continuous support from other like-minded entrepreneurs. Plus the EIT Food network offers so many opportunities to work closely with world-leading industry as well as top universities, research & technology transfer organisations.

At the end of the programme, all the cohort teams are automatically enrolled as Seedbed Alumni. They can then pursue opportunities for follow on funding to support their commercial roadmap. This may include spinning-out or starting-up a new company, or establishing technology feasibility tests with suitable identified partners. There is also the possibility to progress to the EIT Food Accelerator Network, which connects impactful agrifood startups with industry-leading corporate and research partners to pilot their technology and drive the ultimate goal: a successful market adoption.