🗓️ October 2025 Dear BGI’s Community, Autumn is here! Bringing a bit of rain, fond memories of summer, and a season full of big ideas and bold opportunities! 🚴‍♂️🌱🌍 This month, dive into workshops and demo days shaping the future of urban mobility, explore sustainable agrifood innovations, and discover funding calls designed to take your startup or organisation to the next national and global level. Whether you’re researching, pitching, prototyping, or scaling, there’s something for every innovator in our ecosystem. Scroll down, get inspired, and let’s make Autumn a period of impact, growth, and connection. The BGI Team |
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🌾 Save the Date! 4º Edition Agrifood Open Day 2025 Join us for the the Agrifood Open Day, taking place in Lisbon, for a day exploring “Biotechnology for a Resilient Agriculture”. |
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| đź“Š Urban Mobility Data in Action workshop! BGI and IMT are hosting a workshop in Vila Nova de FamalicĂŁo to highlight how Portuguese cities and startups use urban mobility data. |
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Want to grow your Urban Mobility Business? |
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EIT Food is celebrating Europe’s most talented innovators with the EIT Food Innovation Prize 2025. Seven awards of €10,000 each across categories such as Market Excellence, Rising Innovator, Student Innovator, Impact, Global Reach, Tech Pioneer and Women in Innovation (applications close 17 Nov 2025). Alongside this, the EIT Food Education Start-up Award recognises the most promising start-ups emerging from EIT Food’s education programmes, with up to 10 awards of €4,000 (applications close 23 Nov 2025). Don’t miss these opportunities to apply! |
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Agrifood4Future - Explore the CoVEs: Centres of Vocational Excellence
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The transformation of the agrifood sector in Europe is gaining momentum through the creation of Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) under the Agrifood4Future project. These centres bring together industry, education, research, and public institutions to enhance skills and promote sustainable innovation across the food value chain. |
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| In Portugal, the CoVE PT is coordinated by Food4Sustainability CoLAB, BGI-Sustainable Ventures, ISQ and FCUP, working together to empower the agricultural sector and is looking for organisations that want to collaborate in this mission. |
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EIT Food Biotech Innovation Call |
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EIT Food is looking for high-potential biotech innovations ready to reach the market! This call funds projects addressing two key industry challenges:
- Sustainable Downstream Processing to save energy & water
- Real-time Process Monitoring & Control technologies Funding: Up to €400K per project is available for initiatives running Feb–Dec 2026, with a total budget of €3M. Who should apply: R&D projects ready to commercialise, existing research teams with a market plan, or initiatives scaling up proven technologies for the food sector. |
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| Looking to explore new markets beyond Europe? The INNOWWIDE Call 2025 offers up to 70% funding + 25% indirect costs for market feasibility studies worldwide. BGI can support you in preparing your application, leveraging our expertise and global network to help you succeed. This call is open to startups and innovators ready to take their solutions global! Want to know more or get strategic advice from BGI? Email: jan@bgi.pt. |
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Agrifood4Future - Open Innovation & Challenge-Based Programme |
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The Open Innovation & Challenge-Based Programme, led by BGI, connects startups and researchers with agrifood companies across Europe to co-develop pilot projects and innovative solutions. Companies present real-world industry challenges, while startups and researchers provide creative solutions, generating tangible impact. |
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đź‘Ź Celebrating the Tech4RegenAg 2025 Finalists! The Tech4RegenAg Startup Acceleration Programme - 1st Edition - has come to an inspiring close, and we couldn't be prouder of our three finalists who are leading the way in regenerative agriculture: - Agribot: Creates AI technology that provides early insight for the agrifood industry.
- BioArmix: Tackles urgent bacterial plant pathogens.
- Nature Robots: Develops leading AI and robotics for complex farming.
And the Journey Continues… Our next call for startups is coming in November! - If you're a TRL 5-7 regenerative agri-tech startup, get ready to apply! |
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🌟 And the Winner of Agrifood Disruptor 2025 is… AgroShield! After an inspiring Market Discovery Journey, AgroShield (Carina Félix & Marco Lemos) impressed with its innovative seaweed-based foliar spray, tested in real field conditions to prevent fire blight in Rocha pear trees, a sustainable alternative where other treatments fail. Huge congratulations! Kudos also to our brilliant finalists for their vision and creativity: Bubtex – Pedro Santos, Duarte Prata de Vasconcelos Carrasco, Ana Prata; BioRok – Maria João Martins, Filipa Sousa; Bolota Cheese – Cândida Correia and Vegg Foods – Canan Tiryaki, Özgür Tiryaki. |
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Market Information and Opportunities |
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🚴‍♂️ Bike-Sharing Pays Off & Hackathon Alert!A new EY study, commissioned by Cycling Industries Europe and EIT Urban Mobility, reveals that every €1 invested in bike-sharing returns €1.10, generating €305M in societal benefits. Bike-sharing isn’t just green, it’s smart and strategic! |
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🌟 Empowering Women to Lead the Future of Food! 🌟 Join EIT Food on 4 December 2025 in Warsaw for “Next Bite: Accelerating Innovation Through Women Leadership”, a celebration of female changemakers transforming Europe’s agrifood sector. This inspiring event marks the grand finale of the EWA Programme 2025, featuring keynotes, the “Walk of EWA Fame,” investor sessions, and powerful discussions on innovation, investment, and gender balance. Don’t miss the chance to connect with leaders shaping a more sustainable, inclusive food system. 🚀 |
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