Since 2017, more than 100 corporations have decided to take part in the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme: a unique initiative undertaken by the EIC Business Acceleration Services to connect the best European corporations working in open innovation with EIC-funded companies and ignite business collaboration.
ABB, Airbus, BMW, CaixaBank, CommerzBank, Enel, Ferrovial, L’Oreal, Medtronic, Neste, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Saint-Gobain, Shell, Siemens Energy, Solvay or Telefonica, among others have taken the initiative to participate in this programme, and connect with relevant technical and innovative solutions offered by the EIC-funded startups and scaleups.
“...working and partnering with startups is a central part of our open innovation model. Also, the EIC-backed companies selected for the event are some of the most interesting ones working on the future of smart grids and renewable energies in Europe.” Diego Díaz - Iberdrola, Global Head of Ventures & Technology.
“...our goal was to scrutinise and identify contributions from outside more closely; ask new questions and learn; shorten distances and be closer to all those we serve and interact with by working with the EIC’s innovative SMEs.” Estelle Brachlianoff - Veolia, Group Chief Executive Officer
“The quality of the EIC companies is very high. We have involved nine different business units from BBVA that are eager to know more about them. I’m very confident that we will come up with some collaborations.” Ainhoa Campo - BBVA, Head of European Venture Capital Investment
The EIC Corporate Partnership Programme 3.0 kicked off on July 17th and 18th with the first EIC Corporate Day organised with Galp, the leading Portuguese energy company. The EIC Corporate Partnership Day gave Galp the opportunity to meet with EIC-selected beneficiaries from 11 countries in Lisbon to presenting their innovative solutions for the areas in which Galp is looking for solutions.
“We decided to do the Innovation Day with the European Innovation Council because we truly believe that the main mission of our team is really to open the doors to the outside world and bring new solutions, new technologies into our world.” Ana Casaca - Galp, Global Head of Innovation
What's new in the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme 3.0?
The 3.0 edition of the Corporate Partnership Programme strengthens its core mission, and increases support for SMEs and corporations involved in each activity. With this new edition, the EIC is aiming to organise 31 new business acceleration activities and expand the network of corporate partners involved in the programme. Moreover, dedicated deal-making support will be put in place to facilitate business deals during, before, and after the activities. These extra services aim to maximise the opportunities for collaboration between the SMEs and the different corporations, and provide expert support to ensure the success of the programme.
Work with us!
We are looking for large corporations with an open innovation spirit, interested in integrating innovations coming from startups and scaleups directly into their business offering. If you’re interested in getting access to a pipeline of over 6,000 pre-selected and EU-funded SMEs and presenting your challenges to a selected group of entrepreneurs, we encourage you to join the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme. You can find more information here and express your interest through this form.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.