The EIC Tech to Market (T2M) Venture Building Programme took a group of 13 EIC funded projects, from the EIC Pathfinder and EIC Transition programmes, to the MWC & 4YFN in Barcelona. From 26 to 29 February 2024, this selected group of cutting-edge innovators rotated in two EIC Tech to Market booths (inside the Mobile World Capital stand at the 4YFN hall) to showcase their research and technology.
EIC T2M Venture Building leading projects towards market entry
Already a landmark on the European scene of technological events, the MWC Barcelona gathered this year more than one hundred thousand attendees coming from 205 countries. This is the event to meet the key world players on the connectivity sector, but also on other technology related fields, as 59% of this year’s attendees represented adjacent industries to the mobile ecosystem.
This was highlighted by the EIC-powered projects that attended the event, as Stefano Linari, from project Nanowings, explained to us: “It is an amazing experience because a lot of companies from different industries are approaching our booth, and we are not only presenting our core project that is anti-icing coding for wind turbine blades, but also other applications of nanomaterials.”.
For most of the project representatives, coming from universities or research centres, this was the first time they had the opportunity of attending an event of this scale, which presented a great opportunity to meet and exchange with other peers in innovation and technology development. “I am very happy to be representing our project as an upcoming startup at this event and it was amazing to meet such different personalities who are interacting with us. No matter what background they’re coming from, everybody is intrigued by what project you have brought to the conference, and they give inputs to improve not only the technology, but also on how to disseminate and exploit or commercialise it as good as possible.”, told us Saurabh Joshi representing project 3P-Tec at the event.
The EIC beneficiaries also referred to the importance of meeting each other for the first time in person after being part of the programme together for several months. Siobhan Kelleher, from project EndoSolve, mentioned that to exchange with other innovators that have gone through a similar path and make part of a common ecosystem was great to rekindle inspiration and focus on the dream that led her to start developing her technology: “It has been an excellent event to attend as we got to meet other startups within the EIC Tech to Market programme, so very motivating from that perspective.”.
Finally, we had the opportunity to talk with Viorel Peca, Head of Transition Unit at the European Innovation Council, that emphasised the novelty of this presence at such an event: “This is the first time, we participate in a trade fair with two programmes from the EIC Business Acceleration Services. We are here with the International Trade Fairs Programme, with 15 of our Accelerator companies, but for the first time, we brought also 13 of our Tech to Market Venture Building beneficiaries.”. Viorel reinforced the great opportunity that attending MWC Barcelona can bring to these projects: “We expose them to potential customers or even users very early and they can take this feedback into account from the beginning. They need to mature both the business and the technology and to talk, as early as possible, with customers to get their insights will speed up their development immensely.”.
The group of EIC Pathfinder and EIC Transition projects attending the MWC & 4YFN in Barcelona, from 26 to 29 February 2024, with the EIC T2M Venture Building Programme were the following*: 3P-Tec, Asteasier, CATCHER, ChipScope, EndoSolve, LUMINOUS, Nanowings, PRISMA, REDCAP, SpiNNode, SuperClean, and TAONas-LUAD. All these projects are (or have been) going through the programme to become spin-offs and startups.
EIC Transition project, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, wins the 4YFN Awards
Besides the presence of the already mentioned EIC-funded projects at this year’s MWC & 4YFN, another project from the EIC pool was present and able to complete a great achievement: Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, that has received funding for the RoCCQeT project from the EIC Transition programme, was the winner of the 4YFN Awards.
This startup working on quantum computing solutions, was selected as winner (read more) after an on-stage pitching competition. Among the perks awarded to the winners are a €20,000 cash prize, as well as a startup exhibition pod and speaking opportunity at 4YFN MWC Barcelona 2025.
About MWC Barcelona 2024
The MWC Barcelona is the largest and most influential event for the connectivity ecosystem. Tens of thousands of senior executives from the top global companies, international governments and trailblazing tech businesses converge at MWC Barcelona to make decisions.
About 4YFN Barcelona
The 4YFN is the event partner of MWC Barcelona. This means this event not only brings all the players needed for a winning digital startup (like investors and corporate innovators), but it also springboards startups onto the radar of the most powerful decision makers in the connectivity ecosystem. The 4YFN Awards is a global startup competition aimed at finding the best digital startups around the world, and is the highest recognition offered exclusively to startups at MWC Barcelona.
About the EIC Tech to Market (T2M) Venture Building Programme
The EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme aims to help build start-ups to exploit promising research results through venture building services, comprising a range of activities from identification of promising business ideas to venture creation and development.
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*One of the projects didn’t want to publicly disclose its presence at the event, hence its name was not included in this article.
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.