Within its Business Acceleration Services, the European Innovation Council (EIC) is currently implementing the EIC Tech to Market Entrepreneurship & Venture Building Programme to support early-stage innovators in their transition from lab to market. With the complementary approaches of Entrepreneurship and Venture Building, the participants of this programme will be able to acquire entrepreneurial knowledge and skills and receive concrete support to help them build their own start-up.
EIC Tech to Market Entrepreneurship Programme
The EIC Tech to Market (T2M) Entrepreneurship Programme aims to help deep-tech innovative researchers with entrepreneurial aspiration to turn their technology solutions into marketable innovations, to accelerate their science-startup projects, and to build strong Value Propositions and viable Business Models.
What does the Programme offer?
- Customised training to build entrepreneurial insights on deep-tech venture creation;
- Guidance on deep-tech pitching and transformation of the innovative idea into a concrete action plan;
- Expert-based support services for developing and validating the Business Model through Design Thinking methodologies;
- Exchange with market and industrial stakeholders to assess the value proposition and the product-market fit.
How is the Programme implemented?
The Programme builds on five different components:
- EIC Innovation Discovery Training
Two half-days of online collective sessions to learn about the basics of entrepreneurial skills and advice on how to pitch.
- EIC Bootcamp for innovative researchers
Four days of online collective workshops to explore in depth all major entrepreneurial components to be mastered by a deep tech founder (value proposition, team, roadmap, pitch and much more).
- EIC Pioneer Programme for innovative researchers
Immersive 4-months programme of collective sessions (every Wednesday from 16.00 - 18.00 CET) & individual coaching to explore in depth deep-tech entrepreneurship related topics, from IP protection, industrialization, regulatory, team management to finance.
- EIC Business Idea Validation Bootcamp
Collective workshops, team coaching and interviews over 4 weeks to strengthen the value proposition and get tailored support to pre-validate the business model of the initial innovation idea.
- EIC Business Validation Programme
8 weeks of intensive online courses, masterclasses, coaching and interviews to focus on a market-oriented value proposition, the product-market fit and the customer discovery.
The programme structure is illustrated below:
EIC Tech to Market Venure Building Programme
The EIC Tech to Market (T2M) Venture Building Programme aims to support EIC Pathfinder & Transition beneficiaries in their journey to kick-start successful start-ups by exploiting the potential of their research results. To achieve this, the programme offers a process composed by four phases:
- Tech Demo Days: Entryway to the programme with thematic exploration workshops where projects receive feedback from key market players on their technology’s potential.
- Opportunities’ Exploration: Guidance on feasibility from a team of experts with business insights that can help projects to improve.
- Team Creation: Support to build the projects’ teams with individualised recruitment services, access to entrepreneurs in residence and to talent brokerage events.
- Venture Support Services: Development of needs analysis and provision of advisory expertise on key domains for venture creation, such as IP, finance, HR, among others.
Ultimately, the programme aims to support EIC beneficiaries in their journey to kick-start successful start-ups by leveraging on the great potential of their research and innovation combined with our tailor-made activities to support in the creation of a start-up, in building their team and hopefully establishing a new venture.
During the 10-month programme, external stakeholders (such as investors, corporates, entrepreneurs, business analysts, market experts, and others) will also join the activities to assess the potential of the innovative solutions, act as mentors and experts, and will even have the opportunity of joining the ventures’ teams for coverage of knowledge gaps.
What’s in it for EIC Pathfinder and Transition beneficiaries?
- Access critical expertise to help you turn your leading promising research results into market business ventures.
- Receive tailored support to your needs and maturity level.
- Take advantage of the services through a hybrid approach, to be carried out on an ongoing format and need-to-need basis.
- Build your new venture based on validated business models, while closing any identified team gaps related with specific expertise.
- Opportunity to interact and discuss with the EIC Programme Managers, leading experts on their fields, responsible for developing visions for technological and innovation breakthroughs.
Interested in the EIC Tech to Market offer? Check how you can take part!
2-half days of online collective sessions with coaching to learn about basics of entrepreneurship and advice on how to pitch your innovative idea.
Register here – registrations are open until 17 June 2024
4 months of collective sessions and individual coaching to start your entrepreneurial journey by delving into deep-tech entrepreneurship topics.
Register here – registrations are open until 18 September 2024
Are you an EIC Pathfinder or Transition beneficiary? Then, we invite you to express your interest in the programme. You can benefit from tailor-made support to explore and, maybe even, kickstart your own innovation journey! At this point, there are no strings attached: we ask you if you would like to join the “Tech Demo Days”; after that, you can move ahead in this innovation and venture building journey.
Express your interest here - applications work on a rolling basis.
We are looking for entrepreneurs in residence to team up with researchers who want to transform their research project into deep-tech startups. Apply to register your profile and join our Entrepreneurs’ Talent Pool and become eligible to join a new disruptive venture as co-founder or key team member.
Express your interest here - applications work on a rolling basis.
If you have experience in bringing deep tech innovations to market, you can apply to become an expert for the programme. You’ll have the opportunity of providing feedback on the potential of the EIC Beneficiaries’ innovations, act a mentor and contributing as a business or market expert in different business-related fields to support business ideas validation and venture creation.
Express your interest here - applications work on a rolling basis.
Need help?
For additional information, please refer to our helpdesk by choosing either “EIC T2M Entrepreneurship Programme” or “EIC T2M Venture Building Programme” as the subject.
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.