The Catania hub of the EIT Food Accelerator Network (EIT FAN), EIT Food’s European
acceleration programme on water: startups come here to test their solutions.
What it is
A European programme, a hub in Sicily
EIT Food is the European initiative for innovation in food systems, supported by the
European Institute of Innovation and Technology, a body of the European Union. The Food
Accelerator Network is its flagship programme for startups: it helps them validate their
technologies and speed up their route to market.
The programme runs across six European innovation hubs, each with its own strategic theme. Isola Catania is the Sicilian hub, dedicated to the theme of water: every year it selects startups from across
Europe and supports them all the way to the Demo Day, through a programme based at Isola and
connected to the European network.
The network of six hubs
Catania, Italy
Water-smart agrifood systems
Water as the main lever: efficiency, allocation, reuse and risk management, in the field and in processing.
Helsinki, Finland
Circular solutions for food systems
Sustainable packaging, by-product valorisation, upcycled ingredients and closed-loop processes.
Munich, Germany
Smart and sustainable supply chains
Loss reduction along the supply chain, Scope 3 emissions reduction, digital traceability and efficient logistics, including water in storage and distribution.
Paris, France
Biotech ingredients, products and processes
Plant-based innovation, microbial and cellular agriculture, sustainable ingredient substitutes and clean-label formulations.
Warsaw, Poland
Resilient agriculture for the future
Genetics and breeding for drought tolerance, microbiome and the biological response of soil and crops.
Wageningen, Netherlands
Digital and autonomous solutions for agriculture
Smart farming, artificial intelligence and robotics, farm data platforms, and soil, nutrient and crop management.
The Catania theme
Six focus areas across the water value chain
Drought, salinity, reuse: in Sicily water isn’t an abstract issue. The hub works on the
technologies that make it possible to do more with less water, from the field to
processing.
01
Precision irrigation
Optimising when, how much and where water is applied to crops, managed in real time.
02
Soil water retention
Reducing water stress by keeping water available in the soil, without genetic modification.
03
Circular water use
Keeping water in the farming system through harvesting, treatment and on-farm reuse.
04
Governance and risk management
Helping farms and processors manage water risk, compliance and resource allocation.
05
Low-water processing
Reducing the water intensity of food production, without changing ingredients or packaging.
06
Wastewater valorisation
Recovering valuable components from process water for food-grade uses.
The 2026 cohort
Eleven startups, ten countries
They arrived in Catania in September 2026 for the programme kick-off, which included a bootcamp, and their first meeting with the
local ecosystem. They are looking for pilot fields and farms where they can validate their
technologies.
BeadRoots
Italy
More yield. Less water.
Italian agri-biotech startup (Lecce, 2023) led by Valerio De Luca with Angela Bonato and Paolo Pezzolla. It turns algal biopolymers into biodegradable superabsorbent hydrogels. These absorb water and release it slowly in the root zone, improving yields and drought resistance, then break down into compounds that benefit the soil; they also act as carriers for nutrients and microorganisms. Award-winner at Start Cup Puglia.
Norwegian startup (2023), an NTNU spin-off founded and led by Jonathan Eide. Low-cost, multi-depth and multi-position soil sensors connected in a mesh network: they capture the real variability of the soil across the field and allow time for preventive action before yield is lost. Already selling to orchards, vineyards and farms in Norway and Spain.
Who it’s for
Medium-sized and large farms practising precision agriculture
Deeptech biomaterials from human hair for soil, water and circular systems.
Spanish circular-biomaterials startup (Barcelona, 2020) founded and led by Valérie Itey. It turns hair waste from salons and industrial hemp into patented non-wovens with a negative carbon footprint, backed by an ISO 14040/44-compliant LCA. CLIC TERRA: biodegradable mulch that improves water retention and replaces plastic in agriculture. CLIC SEA: marine decontamination barriers (hydrocarbons, microplastics, heavy metals). Traceability and MRV for carbon credits.
Solar-powered autonomous irrigation for diversified farms.
Hungarian startup (2026, bootstrapped) born from a family team combining farming and technology, with Melinda as co-founder. The Cornucopia GrowMachine is a solar-powered, bed- or plot-level precision irrigation controller: it uses fog computing and dual-depth sensors for closed-loop valve control at the edge, even offline, with a crop-intelligence engine covering 50+ crops. Freemium model.
Dutch startup (Wageningen, 2024) led by CEO Juriën Koster. Controlled-environment production platforms that combine indoor cultivation, off-grid renewable energy, water recirculation and AI climate control in a deployable system. Designed for climate-stressed regions, with pilots in Sardinia and Morocco (partnership with IAV Hassan II) and an exclusive licence to a yield-enhancing technique developed at Aberystwyth University.
Romanian startup (Bucharest, 2023) founded and led by Bogdan Iuga (CEO), with Alexandru Iuga (COO) and Ligia Roman (CFO). Modular containerised aquaponic systems that produce fish and vegetables with over 90% less water and no synthetic fertilisers: they combine recirculating aquaculture, hydroponics, biological filtration, IoT, renewable energy and closed-loop, AI-ready automation. It has completed an EIT Food programme.
Industrial-scale water treatment with the power of nature.
Dutch startup (Amsterdam, 2023), a VU Amsterdam spin-off founded and led by Juan Cruz Tubio. Its water treatment systems are based on mycofiltration: the proprietary MycoFilter uses selected fungal species to capture, break down and transform pollutants (nutrients, hydrocarbons, microplastics, emerging contaminants). It’s a circular, low-energy alternative that fits into existing infrastructure.
Who it’s for
Food and agricultural industry and water utilities
Satellite intelligence for smarter irrigation decisions.
German startup (Munich, 2026) founded by former Airbus Defence and Space engineers: Sherif Elsayed (Founder & Chief Innovation Officer), with Marcel Winzen (CFO/COO). Its AI platform fuses radar, multispectral, hyperspectral and thermal satellite imagery with weather and field data to calculate daily water needs and variable-rate irrigation prescriptions, delivered remotely via API to existing controllers. Validated on 2,500 ha in Egypt with 20% water savings (source: EIT profile), and currently piloting in Italy through EIT Food Test Farms 2026.
Danish startup (Copenhagen, 2019) founded by Jesper Alkestrup and now led by CEO Leo Jahl. A plug-and-play IoT system: solar data loggers with professional TDT sensors send moisture, temperature and electrical conductivity (EC) via NB-IoT/LTE-M to a cloud platform that automatically calculates field capacity and plant-available water, turning data into crop-specific irrigation recommendations. +25% yield (source: the startup); simple, maintenance-free installation.
Israeli startup (2023, bootstrapped) founded and led by Shlomi Hadad. It tackles the blind spot of soil salinity, critical in Mediterranean areas: a patented hardware collector (micro-lysimeter) continuously captures the soil solution, an accurate and affordable alternative to laboratory analysis, and an AI layer goes beyond binary timers to optimise irrigation based on soil biophysical conditions, maximise yields and eliminate nutrient leaching.
Water quality monitored in real time by autonomous buoys.
Polish WaterTech startup (2020) founded by Patryk Kamiński (Gdańsk University of Technology), with Przemysław Budnicki as CRO. Smart, autonomous buoys with modular sensors, IoT/LTE, cloud and AI analytics continuously monitor water quality, detect anomalies and send real-time alerts, with no external power or complex infrastructure.
Who it’s for
Municipalities, environmental agencies, aquaculture and industry
EIT FAN stands out from traditional accelerators for its emphasis on validation: startups
raise their technology readiness level (TRL) until they are investment- and
market-ready.
€100K
Validation grant
Each year, a total of €100,000 is awarded to the three best-performing startups to validate their technology with universities and research centres.
RTO
Roadmap and matchmaking
Tailored technology roadmaps and access to European research and technology organisations.
Corporate
Reverse pitching
Bayer, Cargill, Danone, Mondelēz, Mars Petcare, Avril, Valio and others present their challenges to the startups.
How it works
A three-year programme
Every year a new cohort of startups goes through the same phases, from selection to the Demo
Day, with in-person activities in Catania, sessions with the European hub network and
online sessions.
2026 is the first year: the startups were selected in the spring and the kick-off took place
in September at Isola. We are now in the acceleration phase, in the run-up to the Demo Day.
Year 1 · 2026In progress: the first cohort
Year 2 · 2027The second cohort
Year 3 · 2028The third cohort
The 2026 phases
01Spring 2026
Completed
Scouting and selection
An open call to startups from across Europe, evaluated in two rounds on innovation, team, impact and potential. In parallel, mentors and experts were scouted.
02September 2026
Completed
Kick-off at Isola
Three days in person at Isola, including a bootcamp: programme and method, team building, and matchmaking between startups, mentors and experts.
03September / December 2026
In progress
Acceleration
Workshops, mentoring and advisory support on go-to-market, validation, growth, fundraising and partnerships, with corporates and investors.
0430 November / 1 December 2026
Upcoming
Demo Day
Validation of the solutions and final pitch in front of investors, corporates, institutions and European stakeholders.
The eleven startups of the 2026 cohort spent a team-building day on Mount Etna, discovering
the volcano and its relationship with water, and visited an innovative winery. This was
followed by a workshop at Isola on their own business models and a meeting with local
companies and institutions.
01
In the field, from Mount Etna to the vineyards
02
The workshop, at Isola
03
Meeting the local ecosystem
Rooted in Sicily
European innovation meets Sicily’s agrifood value chains
An accelerator that never leaves the classroom does little for the region that hosts it.
That’s why we work to get the startups’ technologies tested here, on the problems Sicilian
farms face every day.
With agrifood districts, consortia, producers and companies, we connect those who develop
solutions with those who need them.
The challenges
Drought, water stress and soil salinity, with a direct impact on yields and quality.
The value chains
Citrus, viticulture, olives, protected horticulture and aquaculture, and the related processing industry.
Who we work with
Agrifood districts, universities, institutions and research centres, farms,
cooperatives, consortia, water utilities and processors.
What we do together
Pilot farms and fields in Sicily to validate the technologies in 2026 and 2027.
Early access to water-smart solutions tailored to the local context.
Matchmaking with consortia, cooperatives, processors and aquaculture operators.
Joint projects, reverse pitching and testing opportunities.
Who runs it
The hub team
The people at Isola who run the programme, from the relationship with EIT Food to the
day-to-day work with the startups and Sicily’s agrifood value chains.
Antonio Perdichizzi
Network and relations
Social entrepreneur, founder and Chair of Isola Catania and Fondazione Marea, with twenty years’ experience in innovation and the startup ecosystem. Within the programme, Antonio leads the network of corporates, investors and institutions that engage with the startups.
Martina leads the programme for the Catania hub, drawing on a background in project management and impact measurement, and coordinates the work with EIT Food, the partners and the startups.
Leonardo works with the startups from selection to the Demo Day: scouting, mentoring, meetings with experts, investors and corporates, and testing opportunities with Sicilian companies.
Mario connects research, innovation and the agrifood value chain, works with the programme’s scientific partners and handles relations at European level.
If you are a farm or a food processor, an agrifood district, a consortium, a university, a research centre, an institution, a corporate or an investor, get in touch and let’s explore how we can work together.
Let’s talk
Would you like to collaborate on the programme?
If you are a farm or a food processor, an agrifood district, a consortium, a university, a research centre, an institution, a corporate or an investor, get in touch and let’s explore how we can work together.
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