In 2021-2024 Viikki Food Design Factory developed and ran the pre-incubation programme Germinator for pre-startup teams and early startups developing innovations for food systems transformation.
Through the Germinator, VFDF has helped 16 teams, facilitated the birth of 5 startups, generated licensing cases and provided essential support for several startups.
In 2025 VFDF runs the EIT Food Accelerator Network (FAN) Helsinki Hub operations, entailing the tech and commercialization support for 10 European startups, including corporate matchmaking, tech validation, project development, and investment readiness coaching.