Agriventures is a Bulgarian NGO and cluster organization committed to fostering innovation and supporting research, agri-food, and biotech startups implementing deep technologies in the agrifood sector. We aim to contribute to the FutureFoodS Partnership by bringing our extensive expertise in project writing, implementation, and strategic development to advance sustainable and resilient food systems.

Our team includes experts in food systems strategy, biodiversity, ESG compliance, and financial planning, all with extensive experience in developing innovative solutions for food systems challenges. We have successfully facilitated collaborations among diverse stakeholders, including universities, SMEs, farmers, and startups, ensuring a systems-based approach to tackling complex issues. Furthermore, we specialize in leveraging EU-level initiatives, ensuring alignment with Horizon Europe priorities while fostering synergies across regions.

Our interest lies in contributing to the first call topic, “The Way Towards Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems.” Specifically, we propose to analyze and characterize the Bulgarian agrifood system, identifying key actors, dependencies, and leverage points for sustainability. By integrating deep tech innovations and ESG principles, we aim to develop actionable strategies that enhance systemic resilience while promoting biodiversity and sustainability throughout the value chain.

We also bring capacity for adaptation, ensuring that our contributions remain aligned with evolving policy frameworks and addressing the dynamic challenges of the food systems landscape. Our previous engagements with projects like Foodity and EIT Food initiatives equip us to build on existing EU-level efforts while fostering collaborations that ensure scalability and impact.

We are enthusiastic about joining this partnership to co-create solutions that reorient food systems toward sustainability and resilience. For further discussions, please contact our CEO, Mariya Hristova, at start@agriventures.co or via her LinkedIn profile here https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariya-hristova-640505b1/. We look forward to contributing to this vital initiative.

Agriventures is an NGO situated in city Sofia, Bulgaria. Agriventures was founded with the mission to increase the market realization of research, supporting agri-food and biotech start-ups/innovative companies in realizing and developing ideas, supporting women entrepreneurs, to implement and demonstrate deep technologies in real-world environments and with end users, facilitating access to cross-border infrastructure and expertise, training and skills development, developing standards and regulations.

Our organisation focuses on creating networks of actors to develop innovation, including start-ups, universities, investors, research institutions and industry in the region, connecting innovators and start-ups companies with relevant networks at European and international level.
Our objectives are related to developing tools to attract start-ups to the region and encourage women's participation, positioning universities as a key component of the local innovation ecosystem, including support for student start-ups, helping researchers to transform scientific results in innovative products, analyzing the development of agriculture, the food industry and rural areas, methodological support and information provision of innovative strategies, cooperation and joint work between non-governmental organizations, the private sector, private and public funding institutions, the state, municipal and regional organizations to support the development of modern and sustainable agriculture, food industry and rural areas, promoting investment opportunities.