GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Proposals should establish and animate locally-driven, multi-actor organic food innovation hubs, bringing together researchers, innovators, farmers, processors and others, to:

• Develop, test and pilot innovations in organic small-scale food processing, in particular careful processing, and new, sustainable and reusable packaging (avoiding non-renewable and fossil-derived plastics), optimising the preservation of nutritional quality, reducing perishability and ensuring food safety;
• Foster diverse innovative solutions/approaches that are tailored to the needs of farmers and SMEs, while ensuring links between food processing and primary production, and adapted to the seasonal character of raw material production and processing in small(er) batches;
• Develop and explore innovative supply and distribution models (including business models, market outlets and marketing strategies, short trade circuits, public procurement, food services), that are adapted to proposed innovative solutions;
• Assess the impacts of the innovative solutions on sustainability (climate, environmental, social, including health, and economic);
• Build a community of practice to share learnings, build capacity and support adoption of innovations at scale.

Proposals should cover a range of crops (indoor and outdoor), both arable and perennial, representative of the organic sector in Europe, as well as the organic livestock sector.

Deadline dates:

22 February 2024 17 September 2024