Business Acceleration Services

Once you have cleared the hurdle of the application process, you will be one of the lucky few winners of each project call, usually four times a year. In the case of the EIC Accelerator, not only will you benefit from up to €2.5 million in funding and €15 million in equity, but you will also gain access to the EU's Business Acceleration Services.

When winning the competition for European funding pays off twice - grant recipients receive funding and access to the EU's Business Acceleration Services (BAS).

Since 2018, the EIC has been funding highly innovative, ground-breaking, but also high-risk projects through its three funding instruments, EIC Pathfinder, EIC Transition and EIC Accelerator. Just one year after the official launch of the EIC funding programmes, a diverse and vibrant community has developed with successful applicants from a wide range of industries.

In order to maximise the impact of its investment, the EIC offers all successful applicants, including researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs, access to a wide range of business acceleration services. Services are available at every stage of the research, development and innovation cycle.

For example, EIC Business Acceleration Services include coaching, mentoring and matching with potential partners. All EIC beneficiaries benefit from the Business Acceleration Services as part of their project implementation. The initiative complements the EIC's funding budget to create a pan-European network of specialised, sector-based partnerships, providing innovators with access to a range of helpful services and connecting them with investors.

Business Acceleration Services are divided into three categories: access to coaches, mentors, experts and training (1); access to international partners, including leading companies, investors as well as producers (2); and finally, access to the innovation ecosystem and other grantees (3).

The first category of EIC Business Acceleration Services is the EIC Coaching Programme on a wide range of topics. Here, beneficiaries are given the opportunity to receive training according to their stage of innovation. The EIC Women Leadership Programme is aimed directly at women, offering them the opportunity to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills and expand their network. Each participant is paired with a personal mentor and business coach to reflect on her career path and explore new business opportunities. The EIC Tech to Market Programme is aimed at researchers and innovators who are in the process of moving from the laboratory to the marketplace and working on their commercialisation strategy. The focus of the programme is to support technology transfer.

The second category of Business Acceleration Services aims to strengthen the international cooperation of EIC beneficiaries and to enable partnerships with leading companies, investors, producers, distributors or even customers. To this end, the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme has been set up to initiate cooperation between beneficiaries and European companies. There is also the EIC Innovation Procurement Partnership Programme, which supports the procurement of innovation. The aim of the programme is to facilitate access to EU and global procurement markets for world-class EIC innovators and to increase their market opportunities. Through the EIC Overseas Trade Fair Programme, the EIC promotes participation in internationally recognised trade fairs and supports EIC beneficiaries in entering new markets. The EIC Co-investment Support Programme prepares successful applicants for their investment rounds and EIC Scale up 100 describes an action to support 100 selected companies to become global technology champions.

Finally, the third category of Business Acceleration Services is the EIC Ecosystem Partnership Programme, where the EIC acts as a link between partners and EIC beneficiaries and applicants who have not received funding but have been awarded a Seal of Excellence. The aim is to provide access to incubation, acceleration, growth and scale-up services.

Applying for funding from the EIC is worthwhile: successful applicants receive financial support, as well as the opportunity to network across sectors through the EU's Business Acceleration Services, meet investors and develop through the many coaching and mentoring opportunities on offer.

Exciting events for EIC beneficiaries are also taking place this autumn, including participation in the EIC Overseas Trade Fairs Programme 2.0 at IFA 2023 in Berlin (1st-5th Sept 23), the world's largest trade fair for technology and innovation, and Gastech 2023 in Singapore (5th-8th Sept 23), the trade fair for gas, LPG, hydrogen and low carbon solutions. For more information on Business Acceleration Services, please click here.

Other exciting events this year:

• EIC Multicorporate Day on Mobility with Software Republique - Athos, Dassault, Orange, Renault, Thales - Paris, France - tbc
• EIC Multicorporate Day on Aviation with Amadeus, Iberia, Ferrovial - Madrid, Spain - tbc

Upcoming events in 2024/25:

• Mobile World Congress New technologies Barcelona, Spain - February 2024
• Softlanding week -  CleanTech San Francisco – Silicon Valley -  Q1 2024
• Softlanding week – TechCrunch Medical-BioTech San Francisco – Silicon Valley - Q3 2025
• Gitex New technologies Dubai, UAE - October 2025