Food Pioneers Accelerator

With support of:

Accelerating the scale-up of innovative food products by connecting companies with the right demo and production facilities. We accelerate the protein transition, make our food chain more efficient, sustainable and healthier and strengthen the competitive position in the Flanders-Netherlands region.

Why this project?

The food system needs to be more sustainable and healthier, but promising product ideas get bogged down at the scale-up stage. The infamous valley of death. However, there is a good range of demo and production facilities in the Flanders-Netherlands region that can help companies through this critical growth phase.

Food Pioneers Accelerator maps out and expands this network of facilities, making it accessible so that innovations can reach the market faster. The project focuses on supporting entrepreneurs and encourages cooperation.

Methodology and expected results

To scale up and market the production of new or innovative food products more quickly, partners in the Flanders-Netherlands Interreg project want to achieve the following:

Access to a regional network of existing production infrastructure and food companies with third-party production capabilities.
Technical and/or economic support for entrepreneurs to solve their scale-up or feasibility issues. By building a network of infrastructure, knowledge and service providers, the Food Pioneers Accelerator consortium aims to make it easier to bring food innovations to market more quickly, contributing to a more sustainable and healthier food system.

Target group

This project is aimed at:

Companies looking to scale up production of new and/or innovative food products in the Southern Netherlands and Flanders region. It is important for the project that these innovations contribute to societal transitions in the border region.
Established companies and knowledge institutes wishing to offer their services and/or facilities for scaling-up issues.

Project partners

The project consortium is a Flanders-Southern Netherlands cross-border collaboration. The following project partners have joined forces - especially with regard to their networks - to achieve the cross-border objectives mentioned above: