NEW TECH FOODS

EIT Food, the ‘world’s largest’ food innovation community, has announced its new cohort of novel innovations for its Seedbed incubator.

The EIT Food Seedbed Incubator is a six month, equity-free programme, which identifies and validates the commercial potential of Europe’s most promising innovations in the food-tech sector, to launch sustainable and scalable agrifood-tech ventures across Europe.

The Seedbed Programme supports early-stage agrifood start-ups across Europe, providing resources including market testing, expert mentorship and access to a robust network of industry professionals.

The programme is open to aspiring entrepreneurs and technology developers looking to validate whether there is a market need for their innovation.

Seedbed works with leading European universities and research centres to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and bridge the gap between academic research and practical applications that benefit society.

Some of the chosen innovations include:

• FORMeat (Germany) – which aims to revolutionise cultured meat production by providing a scalable and cost-effective solution that replicates the texture and taste of traditional meat
  

• AI Bobby (France) – AI Bobby leverages Generative AI to revolutionize food protein innovation, targeting the alternative protein market to enhance functionalities, accelerate development and reduce costs for sustainable food products
  

• Little Guts (Turkey) – which aims to solve gut health problems in babies and toddlers by offering baby foods made with fermented upcycled fruits and vegetables
  

• BioAlva (France) – which provides plant-based seafood alternatives made from seaweed and beans
  

• Change Bio (UK) – which upcycles waste methane into proteins, with the goal of making them less expensive and carbon negative
  

• FlockWise (Denmark) – which provides AI-driven advice/mentorship, management alerts, and market access to African small-scale poultry farmers, addressing educational and market gaps to enhance productivity and income sustainability

Each chosen innovation has undergone a thorough and comprehensive evaluation process to assess its innovative potential, tech and commercial viability, hypothetical business model, unique selling point, and commercialisation potential.

The cohort will gain lifetime access to EIT’s food innovation community, with the chance to connect and test innovations with 100+ industry-leading corporates, research partners and agrifood specialists.

Companies in the programme will also receive support with establishing if there is a viable market need and evaluating the scale of commercial potential, as well as access to networking events, training and 1:1 coaching.

Lukxmi Balathasan, EIT Food Seedbed incubator programme lead, said: “EIT Food’s Seedbed Incubator cohort for 2024 includes some of Europe’s most exciting innovations – with brilliant new ideas and approaches that are addressing the wide range of issues facing the food system today”.

She continued: “From boosting the health of consumers and improving crop yields, to finding sustainable packaging solutions and diversifying plant-based protein sources, innovation has a critical role to play in our efforts to transform the food system towards a future which is fit for people and planet.”

The latest initiative follows EIT Food's announcement earlier this month, unveiling its start-up cohort for its RisingFoodStars agri-food-tech initiative.

EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

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