Navigating the European regulatory landscape remains a significant hurdle for AgriFoodTech startups. To support founders and investors, the Novel Food Framework, a joint initiative by Invest-NL, GFI Europe, and Forward Food Law, has been expanded. Following high market demand, this practical guide to accelerating market entry and managing regulatory pathways is now available in newly published German and Spanish editions, ensuring broader access to vital compliance strategies.
Navigating Europe’s Regulatory Landscape
Bringing innovative food products to market in Europe remains a major challenge. While novel foods are essential for building a more sustainable and innovative food system, companies and investors face a regulatory landscape that is complex, time-consuming, and often difficult to navigate in practice.
Uncertainty around classification, long approval timelines, and high costs make regulatory strategy a critical factor in determining whether innovations successfully reach the market.
The Novel Food Framework
To address these challenges, Invest-NL, GFI Europe, and Forward Food Law jointly developed the Novel Food Framework, a practical guide to help ventures and investors navigate Europe’s regulatory system. Combining expertise across investment, ecosystem development, and legal domains, the framework provides structured insights into regulatory pathways, timelines, risks, and strategic considerations, enabling better-informed decision-making and reducing uncertainty in the scale-up phase.
The framework was originally introduced through a dedicated webinar, where the partners shared key insights and walked stakeholders through its practical use. You can revisit the session here.
Expanding Access: New German and Spanish Editions
Following demand from across the European ecosystem, German and Spanish translations of the framework have now been published. These translations respond directly to requests from the market and aim to improve accessibility for founders, investors, and ecosystem partners across different regions.
Here you can find the German and Spanish versions.
Accelerating European Food Innovation
By making the framework more widely available, Invest-NL, GFI Europe, and Forward Food Law aim to support a broader group of stakeholders in navigating regulatory complexity, accelerating market entry, and scaling innovative food solutions across Europe.
We believe that increasing accessibility to regulatory knowledge is a key step in strengthening Europe’s position in food innovation and supporting the transition towards a more sustainable and resilient food system.
The Novel Food Framework was supported by the European Union, under the InvestEU Advisory Hub.
