Support to EIC Accelerator by the Enterprise Europe Network

Informations projet

EEN2EIC

N° de convention de subvention: 101075818

DOI

10.3030/101075818

Date de signature de la CE 8 Août 2022

Date de début 1 Septembre 2022

Date de fin 31 Août 2026

Financé au titre de

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Coût total

€ 7 299 999,14

Contribution de l’UE

€ 7 299 999,14

Coordonné par

AGENZIA PER LA PROMOZIONE DELLA RICERCA EUROPEA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EEN2EIC (Support to EIC Accelerator by the Enterprise Europe Network)

Période du rapport: 2022-09-01 au 2023-08-31

Résumé du contexte et des objectifs généraux du projet

The aim of the EIC is to support innovation and scale up of companies in Europe and to make EU innovation support more efficient by improving the capacity of SMEs to apply to the EIC and by helping SoE holders finance their projects.
Until now both in the EIC pilot and in the EIC the number of funded projects led by women innovators and from widening countries was rather moderate and there is a need to support these groups of potential applicants further upstream to utilize their full potential. Moreover, applicants that receive a Seal of Excellence (SoE) from the EIC Accelerator often struggle to find the relevant alternative funding from other sources and therefore access to finance service should be provided to these entities to enable faster implementation of their projects.
Raising the support, addressing the most suitable profile applicants for the EIC with special focus on widening countries, women participation enhancing as much as possible collaboration with NCPs is therefore essential. To provide above support and in line with Horizon Europe regulation, EIC is seeking for synergies with EU partners and programmes such as the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) to deliver the below actions

In particular, EEN2EIC aims to empower EEN network offices support potential EIC applicants, specifically women entrepreneurs and widening countries, and Seal of Excellence (SoE) holders. The project aims to develop a strong cooperation mechanism between the European Innovation Council and EEN in order to support innovation and scale up companies.
The project will involve the most relevant actors in the EIC and EEN landscape: the Enterprise Europe Network ( EEN), the EIC NCPs Network (ACCESS2EIC).

Travail effectué depuis le début du projet jusqu’à la fin de la période considérée dans le rapport et principaux résultats atteints jusqu’à présent

The activities of the EEN2EIC project began on 1 September 2022 and during the first months were focused on the development of the operational structure.
In order to involve the EEN nodes specialized in innovation and access to funding support activities, the EEN2EIC Coordination Office has launched , in the period between January and March, three open calls and two addenda to the open calls (to allow the participation of Turkish EEN nodes and countries that had not joined the SMP Association Agreement by the first expiry date).
In particular, it was considered crucial to select the EEN organizations best positioned to provide added value in terms of the local innovation ecosystem, well connected with stakeholders in the country, with enough capacity/personnel resources to support the implement the actions, with a proven track-record of supporting SMEs in European Innovation Council framework.
It was deemed necessary for actions relating to support for SOEs (in the search for alternative public or private financing) to activate the collaboration of the most experienced EEN members in terms of knowledge of national innovation funding landscape/programs , knowledge of Venture capital (VC) country/region landscape, experience coaching and pitching enterprises to present in front of VC.
At the end of this process they were selected:
- 64 EEN Organizations as Consortium Innovation Leaders
- 13 EEN Organizations as Group Leader for SoE support
- 75 EEN Organizations as Local Nodes for SoE support
In addition to the organizations selected for a regional/national coordination role and the fundamental dissemination action of the project activities, the EEN2EIC project also onboarded:
- 135 EEN advisors from 115 EEN organizations for direct assistance to women led and WC companies for the presentation of EIC Accelerator proposals

The need to structure a regulatory framework that took into account the HEU regulations, the national regulations and the practices of the various EEN organizations made the process of defining and subsequently stipulating the sub-agreements with the selected third parties (EEN organizations) particularly complex and it required a deep analysis of specific cases to comply with the administrative rules.
Business assistance activities began in the majority of cases in September 2023.

The established EEN2EIC Community, at the moment, is providing with assistance the target groups of companies, in particular:
- 650 companies interested in applying to the EIC Accelerator (430 of them come from Widening Countries, the remaining are Women Led Companies)
- 486 SoE companies ( SoE laureates from June 2021 to Jan 2023)

Progrès au-delà de l’état des connaissances et impact potentiel prévu (y compris l’impact socio-économique et les conséquences sociétales plus larges du projet jusqu’à présent)

The potential impact of the project is to enhance access for prospective applicants to EIC calls, lower the entry barriers for newcomers as well as those based in those countries registering a low participation rate, widening countries and women entrepreneurs, and raise the average quality of proposals submitted. At the same name, EEN2EIC will empower EEN advisors and will establish coordination mechanisms with other initiatives of the EIC, in line with the expected impacts listed in the EIC Work Programme.
Activities will strengthen the business case of potential applicants from Widening and Associated countries and increase the number of quality proposals and filter out companies not suitable for the EIC. This will further connect with other experienced EEN partners or external private sector partners, support 300-400 applicants per year from WC and AC to submit an application.

For women entrepreneurs, activities will strengthen the business case of potential applicants and increase the number of quality proposals and filter out companies not suitable for the EIC.

With reference to the activities of support for Seal of Excellence (SoE) from the EIC Accelerator access to find relevant alternative private and public fundings and to enable faster implementation of their projects, the project will support approximately 300 SoEs per year to find alternative public or private funding, and the eCommunity to increase the visibility of startups and promote information exchange. Group Leaders and local nodes will add SoEs and local investors to the eCommunity and will publish relevant opportunities.
Throught the EEN2EIC project best practices exchanged within the EEN and increased access to additional expertise and private sector actors for the benefit of EENs in widening countries and ACs within the 3rd Pillar of Horizon Europe.
It is expected also equal and fair allocation of implementation of all actions to other EEN members in all regions of the Member States and Associated Countries 3rd pillar.