Elevating European digital innovator and venture ecosystems through integrated access to market expertise, co-investments and services in support of the EU digital policy priorities

Project Information

EIC-EIT_Digital

Grant agreement ID: 101039254

DOI

10.3030/101039254

Project closed

EC signature date 16 December 2021

Start date 1 January 2022

End date 30 June 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies

Total cost

€ 1 000 000,00

EU contribution

€ 1 000 000,00

Coordinated by

28DIGITAL
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EIC-EIT_Digital (Elevating European digital innovator and venture ecosystems through integrated access to market expertise, co-investments and services in support of the EU digital policy priorities)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The EIT Digital - EIC project was designed to explore ways to implement the intentions stated by the European Innovation Council (EIC) and European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) respective boards through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in January 2021. The main focus is to develop further synergies between the the EIC and the EIT to benefit numerous innovative startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for expansion within Europe by leveraging the respective existing activities.

Building on this premises, the project has been structured in three main areas of activities with a focus in activating support to EIC beneficiaries as well as creating opportunities for EIT Digital supported startups/ventures:

(1) Support to EIC Accelerator beneficiaries with their growth needs, specifically financial capital to support their growth, by offering them tailor made services delivered by the EIT Digital Access to Finance Team.

(2) Support EIC Pathfinder and Transition beneficiaries with upskilling of competencies on the business aspects of creating and running a venture. This objective has been pursued by bringing the teams to understand existing theories then demonstrated with live cases, and then complemented with 1:1 coaching with the teams to discuss the specific circumstances of their (soon to be) venture.

(3) Promote and support the innovative ventures created and supported by EIT Digital and its ecosystem in preparing for their Fast Track application to the EIC Accelerator. The activities pursued included a significant outreach in the ecosystem about this specific opportunity offered by the EIC Accelerator, additionally it led to create a form of support to better prepare the venture in being ready to undertake the application process.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Placeholder 2The EIT Digital - EIC project over the course of 18 months has successfully contributed to enhance the effectiveness of support mechanisms available to European DeepTech startups and scaleups delivering joint impact by EIT Digital and EIC, and contributing to achieving Horizon Europe’’s goal.

The project achieved impactful results presented below and, increased awareness within the two ecosystems about the opportunities available for the European innovators and startups through 9 events, both online and in-person, but also through online compaign and publications of articles that generated more than 6000 viewers.

The EIT Digital - EIC Venture Acceleration Programme received 97 applications from EIC Accelerator Beneficiaries and after a thorough review 10 were selected to join the programme. 10 scaleups received fundraising support from the EIT Digital Access-to-Finance team to prepare the organization and material for a successful fundraising, identify the appropriate investors and get in touch with them. The support took place over a period of 12 months and allowed 5 companies to successfully complete their fundraising, achieving a total of €38,5M fundraised.

EIC - EIT Digital Venture Building Programme trained 7 EIC Pathfinder and Transition Beneficiaries. The intensive programme consisting of an incubation bootcamp lasted six (6) weeks, through an online, hands-on, and collaborative format that was complemented by a in-person closing event. The programme equipped the teams and ventures with a toolbox of instruments and knowledge aimed at driving the successful establishment and growth of a DeepTech venture, including awareness of the pitfalls entailed in the process. The participants commanded the programme for its focus on providing insights on the specific challenges of each team.

The support for EIT Digital supported startups/scaleups to access the EIC Accelerator Fast Track was systematically pursued by building awareness in the ecosystem about the instrument and opportunity for DeepTech scaleups. The activity entailed the development of in-house capacity to support applicants and roll-out processes to seamlessly on board strong candidates in the EIC Accelerator. As result 19 companies were assessed and validated for the Fast Track and a healthy pipeline of candidates was created with more than 20 more companies foreseeing an application in the future.

As the project was reaching its end, EIT Digital was notified to have been selected as one of the EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS) Partner, showing the value for continued collaboration.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project showed a clear path for collaboration between EIC and EIT Digital where strong synergies are naturally attainable to drive significant impact when enabled with proper mechanisms. Below the main areas of impact are presented:

1. Strong complementarity between EIC Accelerator and EIT Digital services
The project confirmed a strong complementarity between EIC Accelerator and EIT Digital competences and services by driving strong results for EIC Accelerator beneficiaries, €38,5M fundraised, which ultimately strengthen European DeepTech companies. In the long term leveraging further this complementarity, would deliver on the Union ambition of having a stronger European Innovation ecosystem.

2. Continuous improvement of synergies
The activities surrounding the EIC Accelerator Fast-Track mechanism laid the foundation for continued collaboration between the instruments creating a channel of promotion of the instrument within the EIT Digital community, but also furthering EIT Digital capacity to support startups in preparing competitive applications. This represents an example of structural collaboration, which should be furthered explored in other areas.


3. Increased visibility of EIT Digital and EIC programmes in their ecosystems and beyond.
Marketing campaigns to recruit applicants for the initiatives have been a great driver of exposure of the respective programmes to the EIT Digital and EIC ecosystems, as well as of the collaboration. Next to it, publications of press-releases about the the achievements of the programmes echoed beyond the ecosystems creating awareness that is likely to have long lasting effects.

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