The EIT Food Challenge Labs 2025 programme has been launched in Ukraine. The initiative is designed to support young agri-food companies that implement innovative solutions, develop digital tools, and seek to strengthen expertise in the field of agro- and foodtech.
The kick-off meeting, which took place on August 19, became a platform for participants to get acquainted with the program, mentors, and each other.
During the event:
- the organizers presented the structure and key stages of the program;
- the speakers noted how projects and innovation development correlate with the vision of agri tech in Ukraine;
- participants had the opportunity to join Q&A with representatives of the public sector and specialized experts.
“EIT systematically launches programs for the development of entrepreneurs, and some of them are flagships for Ukraine. This emphasizes the involvement of the European Innovation Network in shaping the innovation sector in our country – this is also the reason why entrepreneurs need to continue to work for results for a faster and more effective process of integration into the EU ecosystem,”
— Igor Markevich — EIT Community Officer — EIT Community Hub Ukraine.
Within the framework of EIT Food Challenge Labs 2025, participants can expect online workshops from ecosystem leaders on topics such as scaling, fundraising, intellectual property, the specifics of European markets, artificial intelligence, corporate cooperation, etc.
“EIT Food Challenge Labs 2025 is the second set of the program, which showed a successful result last year. Currently, the program is again gathering Ukrainian scale-ups in the agricultural sector to help businesses develop not only in Ukraine, but also throughout Europe,”
— Alina Kyseleva — Director — Amplifiers Program.
The aim of the program is to open up opportunities for Ukrainian agro- and agrotech companies to scale up in the national and European markets, as well as to stimulate the development of young teams through training, workshops and mentoring support. In addition, the program contributes to the implementation of the AgroTech sectoral strategy within the framework of the WINWIN Digital Innovation Strategy
EIT Food Challenge Labs 2025 is launched on the initiative of EIT Food, supported by the EIT, a body of the European Union. The project is implemented by the Amplifiers Program in partnership with IT Ukraine Association, with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Diia.City, national project Diia.Business, the Ukrainian Agrarian Export Association. The project promotes the execution of the AgroTech sectoral strategy in line with the WINWIN Ukrainian Global Innovation Strategy.
Reference:
EIT — The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is an EU body and an integral part of the Horizon Europe programme, the EU’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. EIT aims to strengthen Europe’s innovation potential by bringing together business, education and research to find solutions to pressing global challenges and forge international partnerships. Ultimately, this will contribute to the development of supportive relationships, sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe.
Regional Innovation Scheme ЕІТ (ЕІТ RIS) – EIT Community outreach programme, launched in 2014 with the aim of sharing best practices and experiences arising from EIT Community activities. The EIT RIS provides targeted support to individuals and organisations to enable them to participate in and benefit from the activities, services and programmes of the EIT Innovation Communities.
EIT Food aims to strengthen those regions of Europe that are modest to moderate in terms of innovation in the agri-food sector. The programme is open to innovators who are not EIT Food partners and supports targeted stakeholders through a portfolio of projects.
Amplifiers — is a programme to support Ukrainian businesses and scale-ups in times of war to accelerate post-war recovery, mitigate the negative impacts and boost the growth of the Ukrainian economy. One of the objectives is to develop the ecosystem by connecting relevant stakeholders, bringing communities together and creating sustainable networks, and to scale-up globally to help Ukrainian businesses enter different EU markets.
The IT Ukraine Association is the largest national union of IT businesses in Ukraine, representing the interests of 225 leading companies. Its activities focus on four strategic areas: government relations (GR), education, international cooperation and the global promotion of Ukrainian technology brands, as well as the development of the domestic IT market and sector-specific expertise.
The Association has been operating for over 20 years and officially represents Ukraine in the European Digital Technology Association – DIGITALEUROPE, facilitating the integration of the Ukrainian IT sector into the global digital ecosystem.
Various industry committees operate within the Association, including those on AI, EdTech, FinTech, CyberTech, and AgriTech. They form expert positions and engage in dialogue with the government and international partners.
The Association coordinates the AgroTech track of Ukraine’s national innovation strategy, WINWIN 2030.
The flagship event of the Association is the annual Tech 360: Policy, Talents, Growth conference, which brings together leaders from business, government, education and civil society to discuss the strategic development of the IT market.
Among the Association’s key projects is the annual Digital Tiger research, which analyses core industry indicators, the role of IT in the country’s economy, and its impact on Ukraine’s tech brand.
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES) is an open and partnership-oriented central executive body responsible to society for the sustainable and innovative development of Ukraine’s education and science system at the national, European and global levels, and enjoys the trust of the educational and scientific community, international partners and Ukrainian society as a whole.
Diia. City is a unique space that combines a set of tools for developing and scaling IT businesses. It has one of the best tax systems in Europe, a new flexible form of cooperation between companies and specialists – GIG contracts, and effective and widely used tools for attracting investment.
Diia.Business is a large-scale national project for the development of entrepreneurship and exports, which was initiated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine in February 2020. Since May 2021, the project has been implemented by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine in cooperation with the Entrepreneurship and Export Development Office, a government agency responsible for the development and support of Ukrainian entrepreneurship in domestic and foreign markets.
Ukrainian Agriculture Export Association – is a voluntary, non-profit association of agricultural producers and suppliers created to support common interests in the export of high value-added products without interfering with their commercial activities.
Youth Council at the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine is a youth consultative and advisory body.
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