The Food Innovation Kitchen and the SME Innovation Voucher Programme
The Food Innovation Kitchen opened in November 2025 at Wageningen Campus in Plus Ultra II. This new facility was developed to accelerate breakthroughs in ingredient design and food development. Start-ups, scale-ups, companies and researchers on campus will have access to shared modern application kitchens equipped with professional processing and analytical equipment. In addition, there is a demonstration kitchen where product demonstrations and professional product photography are possible.
Because the Food Innovation Kitchen is located in the centre of Wageningen Campus, there are great opportunities for collaboration. The facility functions as a shared infrastructure, significantly lowering the threshold for experimentation and encouraging collaboration with other innovators. Both young companies and established organisations can use the high-quality equipment without having to make large investments or enter into long-term contracts. Thanks to the flexible pay-per-use model, you can reserve exactly what you need, when you need it, ideal for entrepreneurs who want to move quickly and increase their innovative power.
Renting with support through the SME Innovation Voucher Programme
For entrepreneurs who want to innovate, the SME Innovation Voucher Programme offers an attractive opportunity to reduce the costs of facilities such as the Food Innovation Kitchen. The vouchers are intended to help SMEs move more quickly towards market introduction and scaling up.
The programme has recently been extended until June 2029 and offers more flexibility than before. The main conditions are:
• Minimum subsidy: €10.000
• Minimum project size: €20.000, to be spent within 12 months
• In-kind co-financing allowed: up to 25% of the required co-financing, with a maximum of €12.500
• Multiple vouchers possible: up to four applications per company, with a total maximum of €100.000
The vouchers enable entrepreneurs to finance a significant part of their journey in the Food Innovation Kitchen. In practice, this means that a substantial number of rental days can be covered, especially when own hours are contributed in kind. This creates room to work in phases: first explore, then test and then scale up in a targeted manner, without having to make large investments immediately.
Interested in using the Food Innovation Kitchen?
The facilities are easy to rent via the pay-per-use system. To do so, please contact the innovation cluster at: foodinnovationkitchen@kadans.com