RIS Inspire - HealthySoil4Life
Training in entrepreneurship and innovation in Soil Health and Food
Course information
- Applications
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Open until the 15th June 2025
- Audience
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Only participants from RIS countries can apply
- Dates
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- 30th June to 11th July (on-line)
- 28th July to 1st August 2025 (invitation only)
- Price
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€61.5 for the full course (Including VAT). Waivers may apply.
ECTS: ECTS apply. Please contact the program manager for more details
About : Provide knowledge and a strong entrepreneurship background
Over a period of 3 weeks, the programme provides you with a dynamic and supportive environment for you to develop your knowledge on soil health, soil microbiology, eco-friendly farming practices towards sustainable and climate farming agriculture, all while developing innovative business solutions for a more sustainable food system. This program is designed to equip you with the skills, mindset, and network to launch or grow your agrifood venture.
Advantages :
Integrating entrepreneurship training with food production innovation will enable you to create solutions to global challenges such as decreasing soil functionality and health. The programme has been developed and will be delivered by an outstanding collaborative group composed of European universities, institutes, food industry companies, farmers, and agri-food startups. This unique programme features teaching by highly skilled mentors in entrepreneurship in the food system from Food4Sustainability (Portugal), BGI (Portugal), Idanha-a-Nova Municipality (Portugal) and Sevilla University (Spain) with contributions from The Grand Farm (Austria).
What You’ll Gain? : A Course Tailored to Your Goals
For University Students & Early-Career Researchers
Gain hands-on expertise in soil health, microbiology, and sustainable farming.
Enhance your academic profile with real-world applications.
Earn ECTS credits (eligibility required).
Connect with industry experts and research institutions.
For Seasoned Researchers and Aspiring or Early-Stage Entrepreneurs
Learn how to develop agrifood startups from idea to execution.
Gain mentorship from business leaders in sustainable food systems.
Get tools for business model development & investment pitching.
Compete in the Inspire Impact Competition (up to €4,000 in prizes).
For Professionals & Career-Changers in Agrifood
Master eco-friendly farming techniques and bio-based solutions.
Boost career opportunities in startups, SMEs, and global agrifood companies.
Gain skills to drive sustainability and innovation in your organization.
Network with industry leaders and like-minded professionals.
Career Opportunities : This programme is for you!
Training in Soil Health entrepreneurship and sustainable practices for the agrifood sector you can create career opportunities as a university student, early career researcher or young entrepreneur:
- By completing your plan of studies in agronomy, (micro)biology, and related fields.
- Through the creation of start-ups based on the ideas developed during the school’s programme
- By bringing your own agrifood businesses ideas to launch or scale
- By boosting your chances of being employed by start-ups, SME´s and bigger companies across the sustainable food system.
- By improving your chances of being employed in local, national, and international organizations in administration, teaching, and training.
- By improving your chances of being employed by NGOs and media companies
The training on sustainable and microbiome farming can make a difference for current and future generations that will now have a reference to follow towards more sustainable approaches due to this capacitation. The creation of new businesses will contribute to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, namely SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG10 (Reduced inequalities) and SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production) . At the same you will be contributing to reducing the employment shortage of qualified professionals that can foster sectoral innovation in the primary sector.
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“We are here at Vale Feitoso in Penha Garcia. I am very happy to be part of this summer school that EIT Food has made possible. It’s a great experience to learn about new areas. And I hope to get to live this experience again, because it’s simply amazing”
What you'll learn : Taught by academics and food industry experts
Food systems
Analyse the food system using a range of systems approaches to appraise current and future sustainability challenges.
Implement innovative responses to address sustainability challenges in the food system.
Entrepreneurship
Create opportunities for social and environmental value creation.
Mobilise resources to create sustainable value for others.
Design and implement effective actions to deliver impact.
Problem solving
Analyse relevant aspects of the problem space to inform creative thought.
Use basic methods to generate new ideas and to assess their validity.
Contribute to co-creation processes to develop sustainable solutions.
Critical thinking
Collect, analyse, interpret and report information to develop sustainable solutions to current and future challenges
Appraise unintended consequences of any course of action to devise ethical goals.
Leadership
Appraise different strategies to deliver a food system innovation.
Demonstrate leadership towards the implementation of a food system innovation.
Communication
Devise effective communication methods that support organisational strategies.
Engage in honest and inclusive two-way communication with stakeholders about their concerns.
Adjust messaging for different audiences.
Technology management
Competently use appropriate technologies to contribute to food system innovations.
Appraise the relevance of emerging technologies in a particular work or study context.
Identify key unintended consequences of the use of emerging technologies.
Recognise the importance of IPR management.
Data management
Appraise the efficacy of different digital tools and sensing methods to acquire, manage and manipulate data.
Devise effective data management protocols.
Design effective actions to mitigate key unintended consequences of the use of information technologies.
Implement adequate data security measures.
Structure & Modules : Asynchronous and live (synchronous) interactive virtual sessions
During the 3 weeks, the programme will take place online with a combination of asynchronous and learning resources and live (synchronous) interactive virtual sessions:
Module 1: What is soil health?
Introduction to the challenges in soil health, sustainable agriculture and bio-based fertilizers.
- Importance of Soil Health in food production and main challenges
- Why is soil a dynamic entity?
- Soil formation, functions and threats – the Physical & Chemical properties
- The role of microbes in nutrient cycling, plant growth and food production: Mycorrhizal – Unlocking the secret ingredient?
- NextGen of bio-based enhancers:
A) PGPB (plant growth promoting bacteria) – From soil health to crop yield: the potential application of biofertilizers.
B) Biocontrol. What is it and how it can be used?
Module 2: The Soil, how to look after it?
Sustainable soil practices: Farming smarter, not harder: reducing inputs and boosting the farm’s bottom line
Module 3: Tools to assess soil health
The state of the art for soil health assessment.
- Soil health assessment: quantitative tools. Conventional and Next generation Sequencing (NGS) and enzymatic analyses
- Soil health assessment: hands on. Microbes know no boundaries: case studies of microbiome diversity across regions
Entrepreneurial learning will be transversal to all school modules. Please see the full agenda for more detailed information.
Monday 28th July –1st August (By invitation only)
Eco-Week in the village of Penha Garcia (Portugal) in the GeoPark awarded by UNESCO
Introduction of the Entrepreneurial Week; Presentation of case studies and major challenges; Sustainable Business Models, Pitch design and training; On-site visits to inspiring farms and fields showcasing sustainable management practices: the worldwide famous BOOM Festival, Real Idanha, and Herdade do Vale Feitoso.
Subjects: Microbiome; Biocontrol; Biofertilizers; Mycorrhizae; Soil Health & Nutrition; Applied Cases; Develop your business
Price €61.5 for the full course (Including VAT). Waivers may apply.
ECTS: ECTS apply. Please contact the program manager for more details
Applications clearly made solely using AI text generation and un-proofread will not be accepted and rejected.
The school ends with a final test. Successful participants will be granted a Certificate of Completion.
Additionally, right after the school ends participants will have the opportunity to join the Inspire Impact competition, continue their learning, earn an additional certificate and compete for cash prizes (up to €4000).
The Inspire Impact course is free of charge for candidates who have satisfactorily completed any Inspire School.
More information about this competition will be shared soon!
Activity Lead :
Cláudia Costa
Operations Researcher - Food4Sustainability
claudia.costa@food4sustainability.org Connect on LinkeInPartners : In collaboration with
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Municipio de Idanha
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