From 27 February to 2 March 2023, EIC- funded SMEs, startups and scale-ups with pioneering deeptech solutions, met in Barcelona, Spain at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 under EIC Overseas Trade Fairs (OTF) Programme 2.0. The world’s largest international trade fair for the mobile communications and telecoms industry brought together more than 2000 exhibiting companies, 4700 global media and over 100.000 visitors from 173 countries.
The 20 EIC companies, representing the EIC Pavilion, hit the stage at MWCB 2023, featuring the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Machine Learning and mobile solutions, offering an immersive experience around the quality and authenticity of European novelties. Throughout the tradeshow, the EIC-backed companies capitalised on the opportunity to network with industry professionals, opinion leaders and like-minded counterparts.
In addition to the exhibition, the European Innovation Council (EIC) had had a significant presence throughout MWCB. Among the key highlights stood out the high-level panel discussion about Deep Tech in Europe with the participation of Timo Hallantie, Head of EIC Pathfinder Unit at EISMEA. Mr Hallantie stressed out the fundamental role of the EIC in backing visionary entrepreneurs, focusing on why science-based innovation (deep tech) is the current and future opportunity for European scientists, entrepreneurs and institutions to create a competitive advantage in the global innovation ecosystem.
In a previous interview with the EIC, the Chief Marketing Officer of GSMA, Lara Dewar, highlighted the added value of the EIC Pavilion: «Through our start-up and innovation platform 4YFN, the GSMA has long been committed to encouraging start-ups to showcase their ingenuity at MWC Barcelona, introduce their concepts, and network with the entrepreneurial community. The EIC Pavilion is an important part of this community and a must for any European start-up, scale-up or SME looking for support to launch or scale their breakthrough technologies and innovations».
To find out more on the EIC-funded companies that participated in MWCB 2023, please read this article. The next delegation of EIC companies is all set to exhibit revolutionary innovations in Hannover Messe 2023, taking place in Hannover, Germany, from 17 to 21 April 2023.
About EIC Overseas Trade Fairs Programme 2.0
The EIC Overseas Trade Fairs Programme 2.0 supports EIC-funded SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups to develop their large-scale commercialisation strategy in foreign markets and leverage entrepreneurial opportunities at global innovation hubs, strengthening the European Union’s (EU) brand around the world.
Building on the success of the Pilot OTF Programme, which took place between 2017-2018, the EIC OTF Programme 2.0 is running throughout 2022 and 2023, offering EIC beneficiaries the unprecedented opportunity to showcase their unconventional ideas at 15 international trade fairs in diverse sectors across EU and extra-EU markets.
Check EIC OTF Programme 2.0 for additional information and the list of the upcoming trade fairs, as well as the EIC OTF Programme 2.0 – Application Dos & DONTs video to find out how you can submit a successful application. For stories, open calls and events, you may also visit the EIC Community Platform.
To follow the latest news and learn more about getting involved, please visit the EIC’s official social media accounts on Twitter and LinkedIn.
