The EIT Food Seedbed Showcase Event, which will take place on November 18 (Friday) from 9:00 to 17:00 at the Faculty of Management at 1/3 Szturmowa Street in room B 205, will present 40 startups from all over Europe. The teams will present what they have managed to do during the program. Startups will be assessed by three expert panels consisting of representatives of the agri-food industry from Poland and abroad.

The Seedbed Incubator is a market validation programme that trains and supports teams over a six-month period to help them better understand the needs of their customers and validate their business ideas. Seedbed is designed for entrepreneurial teams who are developing innovative technologies set to make a big impact on any part of the food sector, including the way we produce, deliver, consume, recycle and dispose of our food.

The programme operates over five locations across Europe - Poland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Germany and Denmark. During May 2022, 60 teams received training over three 4-day online Bootcamps. During the 4-day online training Bootcamps, the teams received training on the following:

• - Introduction to Verbal Business Card
•  Introduction to Value Proposition and Business Model Canvas
• Market Discovery and Testing Business ideas
• Practicing Customer Conversations
• Developing Market Discovery Action Plans
• Pitching (focused on presenting initial assumptions and how they will test these)

On Day 4 of each Bootcamp, each team pitched to a panel who recommended teams to progress to Phase 2 of the Seedbed Programme and receive funding from EIT Food (6,000 EUR) to engage in a Market Discovery journey.

40 teams were selected to proceed to the Market Discovery phase of the programme, where each one of these teams was allocated to a Hub. Each Hub has been responsible for incubating these teams over a 6-month period (Jun-Nov), providing mentorship, access to training and continuously monitoring the teams’ engagement and performance throughout the duration of the programme.

The Final Showcase Event is the culmination of the teams Seedbed Journey where they will have the opportunity to reflect on their Market Validation journey and present their learnings and feedback from the market, including how they will use these learnings to help refine their Business Model and plan their future commercialisation roadmap.

In advance of the Final Showcase Event, teams have undergone a series of trainings to help them prepare for the event. The purpose of this presentation is not an ‘investor pitch’ but for the teams to tell the story of their Seedbed journey, what they have learnt and proposed next steps i.e. what Option will they follow.