Green Transition Forum and Agriventures Partnership Brings Together European and Global Leaders Shaping the Future of Food and Agriculture

High-level panel at Green Transition Forum will focus on innovation, digitalisation, and competitiveness in agriculture and food systems

On 4 June 2026, within the framework of Green Transition Forum 2026, Agriventures in partnership with Green Transition Forum will organise a specialised panel dedicated to the future of food and agriculture.
The event is part of the sixth edition of the forum, taking place between 1 and 5 June in Sofia, which has established itself as one of Europe’s most influential platforms for dialogue between institutions, business leaders, innovators, investors, and policymakers.
The panel begins at 4:30 PM and will be structured as an interactive discussion under the theme Future of Food and Agriculture: Innovation and Digitalisation in Agriculture. The session will focus on the practical implementation of technologies, data-driven solutions, and innovation in the agri-food sector, alongside financing opportunities for innovative farmers, startups, and researchers.
The discussion takes place at a pivotal moment for Europe’s agricultural and food sectors. In 2025, the European Commission proposed a new European Competitiveness Fund designed to consolidate multiple financial instruments and direct investment toward strategic sectors including biotechnology, digitalisation, agri-food systems, and sustainable industry. The fund is expected to play a major role in closing Europe’s innovation gap and accelerating technology adoption across the continent.
Within this context, the panel will examine how the sector can move beyond concepts and pilot projects toward measurable real-world impact.
The discussion will bring together international experts and innovators, including:
• Blagoja Mukanov, Consultant at AgFutura Technologies with expertise in agricultural digitalisation and sustainable farming solutions
• Georgios Karakatsanis, Founder and Director of EVOTROPIA, focused on innovation in agri-food systems
• Sonsoles Jiménez Pérez, Managing Director of Alberizas and lecturer at University of Málaga, with an interdisciplinary background in economics and law
• Veselina Stoyanova from MEALPROT, developing biotechnology solutions and circular agriculture models
• Ivan Dragoev from ONDO Solutions, a company focused on digital technologies for farm management and irrigation
The panel will be moderated by Mariya Hristova, expert in EU agricultural law, strategic planning, and innovation.
The discussion will focus on one key question: how can innovation be implemented in real agricultural environments in ways that improve productivity, sustainability, resilience, and market access?
The event will also provide opportunities for networking, financing discussions, partnerships, and insights into future European agricultural support mechanisms after 2027.
Immediately following the panel, the first edition of Agriventures Awards 2026 will take place starting at 5:40 PM.
The awards initiative, organised by Agriventures, connects farmers, innovators, investors, startups, corporations, and institutions while creating opportunities for financing, partnerships, and ecosystem growth through its platform:
The mission is clear: to build a bridge between ideas, financing, and the real-world implementation of solutions transforming the future of food and agriculture.
The role of Agriventures in supporting agrifood innovation
As the agritech startup ecosystem grows across Europe, initiatives such as Agriventures are helping connect entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, and policymakers working in agriculture and food innovation.
Agriventures focuses on supporting agrifood startups, biotechnology innovation, and access to European funding for agriculture, while also helping entrepreneurs navigate the complex landscape of startup financing, venture capital, and research commercialization.
By strengthening connections between startups, research institutions, investors, and farmers, Agriventures contributes to building a stronger agricultural innovation ecosystem that can accelerate the transition toward sustainable agriculture and resilient food systems.
Through knowledge sharing, events, and ecosystem building, Agriventures helps ensure that promising agritech innovations can scale and reach farmers, food producers, and global markets.
Tags
Related Articles
Continue reading our latest insights and updates from the AgriVentures ecosystem.

Biotechnology, Agri-Inputs and Biosecurity: Why the Future of Farming Needs a Wider Conversation in Sofia
Agriculture is undergoing a quiet transformation. Genomic tools, precision biological solutions, and new generations of crop protection and plant nutrition products are changing what is possible in the field and along the whole food chain. At the same time, the same advances raise questions that the sector is only beginning to ask. Who controls the genetic resources and seeds we depend on? How do we manage biosecurity when biological agents and genomic technologies can be used for more than...

Where Agrifood Biotech and Research Funding Is Actually Going in 2026
Basic research doesn't fund itself, and in agrifood, the gap between a promising lab result and a fundable project often comes down to knowing which of a dozen overlapping EU programmes to approach first. Food safety science, biotech platforms, and multi-country research consortia each follow their own funding logic, and 2026 has brought fresh calls across all three. Two Live Examples Worth Studying Safe-Agri, one of AgriVentures' active projects, is reinforcing the security assessment...

VerAgro launches a free self-assessment to help farms measure - and improve - their sustainability
"How sustainable is your farm?" It's a question most producers can answer instinctively, but rarely with hard numbers. A new Bulgarian startup wants to change that. VerAgro, a Bulgaria-based agtech startup, has launched a free online self-assessment that gives farms and processors a clear, structured picture of where they stand on sustainability — and what to do next. A 20-minute check-up for your farm The tool works like a health check-up for your operation. Farmers and processors answer 57...

A New Door Is Opening for Bulgarian Farmers and Agri-Innovators - And It's Fully Funded
For years, the biggest barrier between Bulgarian agriculture and Europe's most advanced farms hasn't been ambition. It's been access — to the right rooms, the right people, and the budget to get there. AgriVentures' new Missions program was built to remove exactly that barrier, and it does it in a way few programs in the region ever have: by covering the full cost of getting Bulgarian farmers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and companies in front of Europe's leading agri-food innovators. If you...

Inside projects.agriventures.co: Your Gateway to EU AgriFood Innovation
AgriVentures has launched projects.agriventures.co, a dedicated portal that brings the full portfolio of our EU-funded initiatives into one place. Where agriventures.co connects agrifood innovators with funding, the Projects site shows what happens next: the live programmes, Living Lab pilots, and network activity that funding makes possible. Here's what you'll find on the site — and how each part of our community can put it to work. A Live Portfolio of EU Projects The homepage opens with our...

Understanding Biomass Flows in Europe: A €6M Horizon Europe Call Agrifood Founders Shouldn't Miss
A question we've been getting a lot lately, including from our own LinkedIn community, is some version of: "Can my startup actually apply for this, and how?" This time it's about Understanding biomass flows in Europe (HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-05), a Horizon Europe call with a total budget of €6,000,000 that opened on 17 April 2026 and closes on 17 September 2026. It's exactly the kind of opportunity worth breaking down properly, because the honest answer is "yes, but not the way most...
Never Miss an Update
Join our community to receive the latest insights, funding opportunities, and industry news from AgriVentures.