FS4Africa, a Horizon Europe-funded project dedicated to transforming food safety systems across the African continent, has officially launched its second Open Call specifically targeting innovation hubs. With a total budget of €200,000, the initiative will provide financial support to at least five selected projects, each eligible for up to €40,000 in funding.
Launched in January 2024, FS4Africa is focused on improving food safety across Africa, with particular attention to the informal sector. The project aims to foster local market transformation that enhances food security and regional trade while reducing negative impacts on the environment, biodiversity, health, and society.
Through this Open Call, FS4Africa will provide financial support to third parties (innovation hubs) to train use case partners and Open Call 1 beneficiaries by providing mentoring and accelerating innovative business concepts, including social innovation and upscaling in view of African or European food business entrepreneurs and start-ups.
Applicants are invited to propose and implement a structured programme consisting of at least six (6) training–mentoring activities during the implementation period:
- Deliver at least two (2) training activities to support at least two (2) distinct Open Call 1 beneficiaries.
- Deliver at least four (4) training–mentoring activities targeting actors involved in one or more FS4Africa Use Cases in collaboration with other OC2 projects.
Who can apply?
The call is open to innovation hubs as single applicants only—no consortia allowed. Eligible Innovation Hubs may include, but are not limited to:
- Business incubators and accelerators
- Technology parks and science parks
- University-based entrepreneurship centres or technology transfer offices acting as innovation support units
- Digital Innovation Hubs
- Innovation agencies with structured incubation or acceleration programmes.
The full application package is available online on the project website foodsafety4africa.eu.
How to apply?
Interested applicants must submit their applications exclusively via the dedicated platform at opencalls.fund. Submissions received through any other channel will not be considered and will be automatically discarded. The deadline for applications is August 31, 2026 at 17:00 CET. Selected projects are expected to commence implementation in February 2027 and run for a duration of eight months. FS4Africa will provide 100% funding of eligible costs.
All application materials (documents of the Open Call kit) must be submitted in English, which is the official language of the FS4Africa project and FS4Africa Open Call. The proposal evaluation and sub-grant agreement preparation will take place between September 2026 and January 2027.
All questions concerning the Call must be in writing and be stated in the FAQ section on the opencalls.fund platform or sent by e-mail to fs4africa@opencalls.fund. The deadline for asking clarification questions or requesting additional information is 17:00 CET on August 26th, 2026.
Disclaimer
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
