Agri-food Biotech Scaling-up

Expected Outcome:

Indicative duration of the project(s) to be funded: 36 months

Qualitative and quantitative indicators: The number of collaboration activities, the scale-up achieved by SMEs in terms of volume increase and/or measurable process improvements (e.g. higher yields, lower costs), and the number of SMEs supported overall.

Scope:

This call will fund projects within the bioeconomy, with a special focus on biotech applied in the food sector. The projects aim at boosting collaboration between biotech clusters, creating a critical mass able to compete with global hubs. Projects will have to actively support their SMEs developing innovative products made with bio solutions, especially to scale-up from the laboratory to pilot- and commercial scale, and explore the best options to provide regulatory support to help bring those products to the market.

Projects should focus on the agri-food sector, and the use of fermentation technologies (such as biomass fermentation and precision fermentation) which already contribute to food sustainability and security and will increasingly do so. Fermentation technologies present opportunities to offer diverse, nutritious and accessible food options with reduced use of land. They also present economic opportunities for rural areas, as biomass fermentation allows for rapid production of protein-rich foods with minimal inputs, adaptable to any location with access to electricity, water, air and feedstock. They also present reshoring opportunities to produce critical feed ingredients, such as vitamins and amino acids. Advanced fermentation technologies also offer potential in other sectors, as highlighted in the Life Sciences Strategy. All projects (if several are funded) should exploit and optimise advanced fermentation technologies with potential for the agrifood sector.

The projects are encouraged to take into account initiatives in the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy and the Horizon Europe work programme 2026-2027 in relation to industrial symbiosis, biomass hubs and biomass flows.