The Cross-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) collaboration sought to enhance the support to start-ups by reducing silos between the EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) and the institutions - the EIC (European Innovation Council), and the EIF (European Investment Fund). Positioning the EIT KICs as the points of reference on start-up support would create synergies that will help avoid double funding, enhance co-investment opportunities, thus breaking innovation barriers in Europe by developing this one-stop-shop cohort for entrepreneurs and investors within the European ecosystem.
This more cohesive approach to start-up funding and support would increase the consequent social impact, and the goals of the EU, including increased access to funding for start-ups, the post-pandemic challenges, and the objectives underpinning the green deal.
Thus far, all EIT KICs have successfully launched sector-specific business creation (BC) and Investment programmes to provide business development, incubation, and acceleration services, to high-potential start-ups and SMEs (small and medium enterprises) for them to achieve and progress breakthrough innovations that can be scaled rapidly across markets. By working in collaboration, individual KICs’ approaches to Access to Finance (A2F) offerings were streamlined and revenue-generating mechanisms (fees for services and consulting offered to start-ups, scaleups and SMEs involved) will be optimised. As such, part of this effort will also contributes to the Financial Sustainability (FS) of the EIT KICs, while directly increasing the number of start-ups benefiting from the EIC, and EIF support. Through their business creation and investment programmes, the EIT KICs are building a pipeline of innovative start-ups with high scale-up potential and ability to deliver on Horizon Europe’s and EIT’s societal impact goals. At the same time, KICs’ financial resources and ability to invest are limited. It is therefore crucial to mobilize additional risk capital and build a stronger investment ecosystem to support innovative startups and connect them with VCs and corporates which can adopt and scale-up new solutions.
This xKIC (Cross-KIC) activity helped the KICs leverage additional investment in innovation and help KIC-supported start-ups and scaleups attract additional risk capital from the VC and corporate sector. The upscaling and market uptake of innovation will contribute to the modernization of the EU economy and to the transition of EU’s industry to a sustainable model of inclusive growth in line with the Green Deal in all the sectors where KICs operate. The proposal can thus maximise the value-added offering for European start-ups in line with the overarching goal of enabling synergies with EIC and EIT KICs.
The EIC work-package (WP) sought to impact the ecosystem by simplfiying the support structures for start-ups to better services their needs and help them move solutions to market faster and ultimately reach European citizens. The Cross-KIC EIC WP2 focuses on developing long term strategy, a service-based model and implement a Fast Track that will better position EIT by showcasing each individual KICs’ expertise and broad regional outreach. Through this project, EIC and its beneficiaries had more direct access to the sector-specific support through each KIC’s contribution and existing network.
Further, the major outcome of WP3 EIF was to be be a single, open innovation and investment platform focusing initially on Agri-food and Bioeconomy sector jointly led by EIF and EIT participating KICs, and a meaningful size for the market stakeholders, including on the investment capital side to be seeded and leveraged. Though process concerns led to a change of model, helping to still create value by associating following stakeholders into one platform: Corporates, Private VCs, Public Authorities and Start-ups. It will create value by removing silos and allowing EIF and multiple KICs to address together needs of start-ups and SMEs, across the broad Agri-food and Bioeconomy sectors. With this large scope of cooperation, we create massive synergy along multiple dimensions: technology, industry, private public, etc. We share knowledge within a common platform, allowing participants to access a large deal flow, discuss and invest together. By combining operational / business development expertise with financing power, we lower or remove certain risks in European ventures. We also prepare the exit routes for the successful ventures.
