€1.3 million budget for innovation and scaling up in agrifood

On February 1, 2025, in cooperation with Regio Deal Foodvalley, Foodvalley will extend the SME Innovation Voucher Program until June 2029. With a remaining budget of approximately €1.3 million, the program will continue to support SMEs in the agri-food sector in accelerating innovation and scaling up, by providing access to shared pilot and demonstration facilities.

In addition to the extension, various changes are also being made to the terms of the program. These adjustments provide more flexibility and are better in line with the practice of innovation and upscaling processes within the agri-food sector.

More flexibility through in-kind co-financing‍

An important change is the introduction of in-kind co-financing. From now on, SMEs can fill up to 25% of the required co-financing with in-kind contributions, up to a maximum of €12,500. These contributions must meet pre-determined conditions with regard to origin and eligibility of the costs. This ensures transparency and accountability, while lowering the financial threshold for participation.

Multiple vouchers for phased innovation processes

The renewed program acknowledges that innovation and scaling up often take place in phases. SMEs are therefore given the opportunity to distribute a larger innovation or upscaling process over multiple vouchers, within the following frameworks:

- a maximum of €100,000 per SME

- up to a maximum of four requests per SME

“With these changes, we are making the SME Innovation Voucher more accessible and better suited to how innovation and scaling up work in practice,” says Jochem Groothuismink from Foodvalley. “By allowing in-kind contributions and multiple vouchers, we lower the financial barriers without sacrificing the quality of the program.”

Strengthening the agrifood innovation ecosystem

The SME Innovation Voucher Program is part of Regio Deal Foodvalley I. It is one of the funds available to accelerate the transition to a sustainable and healthy food system. With the extension of the SME Innovation Voucher Program to 2029 and the tightened conditions, Foodvalley and Regio Deal Foodvalley want to further strengthen the agrifood innovation ecosystem. The program supports SMEs in taking concrete next steps towards scaling up, market introduction and sustainable impact in the long term.

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