NCBR Strategic Programmes (Programy Strategiczne)

AGROSTRATEG I

Funds strategic agricultural and food research partnerships in Poland focused on practical innovation.

AGROSTRATEG I is the inaugural call under NCBR's AGROSTRATEG strategic programme, one of nine national strategic research programmes operated by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) under Poland's Ministry of Science and Higher Education. AGROSTRATEG addresses state-priority research challenges in agriculture, food, and rural development, as defined by Poland's State Scientific Policy. The programme uses a top-down competition structure: NCBR publishes specific research topics or technical challenges, and applicants must propose solutions meeting those requirements — open-topic applications are not accepted. AGROSTRATEG I opened March 31, 2026, and closes August 28, 2026, with a total pool of 300 million PLN.

Eligible applicants include enterprises (for-profit companies), scientific and research institutions, universities, and nonprofit organizations registered and operating in Poland. Individual applicants are ineligible. Because this is a strategic programme, applicants are expected to form project teams capable of conducting applied research aligned with NCBR-defined research questions in agri-food technology, food security, sustainable agriculture, or rural development. The call is designated as Call I, indicating it is the programme's first competition; NCBR's track record with parallel strategic programmes (e.g., HYDROSTRATEG, which is now on its fifth call) suggests periodic future rounds. Per-project award minimums and maximums, required TRL entry points, consortium composition rules, and scoring rubrics are published exclusively in the call-specific PDF documentation available through NCBR's Platforma Konkursowa.

Applicants should download the official call documentation from the Platforma Konkursowa (gov.pl/web/ncbr/platforma-konkursowa) before preparing a submission, as the public schedule contains only the budget, opening date, and closing date. AGROSTRATEG I is one of three major strategic calls NCBR launched in 2026, alongside HYDROSTRATEG V (200M PLN, water/hydrology) and NUKLEOSTRATEG I (150M PLN, nuclear technology), collectively representing 650 million PLN in strategic programme funding from NCBR in a single year.