The Government of Manitoba and EIT Food have announced a five-year strategic partnership to link the province's agriculture and agrifood businesses with Europe's largest food innovation network. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and runs innovation programmes, international partnerships and ecosystem development across the EU.

The two sides will explore five areas: research and funding opportunities through Horizon Europe, innovation and market connections, application of EIT Food's Knowledge Triangle model linking education, research and business, investment readiness and partnership development, and wider knowledge exchange between Manitoba and the European Union.

The agreement extends EIT Food's growing footprint in Canada, including a 2026 partnership with AgSphere that supports cross-border innovation, start-up exchanges, skills development and market access between the Canadian and European agrifood sectors.

"Manitoba's producers and processors are the backbone of our rural economy, and this collaboration strengthens the tools they need to stay competitive in a global market," said Ron Kostyshyn, Manitoba's agriculture minister, adding that ideas and products developed at home should be able to grow, scale and succeed on the world stage.

EIT Food chief executive Richard Zaltzman said the agreement gives European partners a way to strengthen links with Manitoba-based innovators while bringing new knowledge, technologies and market perspectives into Europe's food innovation ecosystem, in pursuit of a healthy, sustainable and resilient food system on both sides.

Photo: European Institute of Innovation and Technology

Source: Farms.com