From 19-24 May 2024, the EIC USA Soft-landing Programme brought together European top innovators and worldwide industry leaders in the field of Health and Life Sciences. The programme closing week included mentorship, pitch presentations, workshops and networking events in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
The success of the Soft-landing resulted from the close collaboration between the EIC and US partners, including the experienced investor and entrepreneur Jillian Manus (Managing Partner at Structure Capital and EIC ambassador), the support of the EU office in San Francisco, and world-class organisations such as Stanford University School of Medicine, INSEAD San Francisco Hub, NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center, San Francisco Bay Area Council and the Commonwealth Club World Affairs.
The programme was fully tailored to 15 EIC-backed companies in the field of Health and Life Sciences, providing immersion into the US market to accelerate each company’s internationalisation journey and to increase their US business prospects.
Following 3 months of training and mentorship, the 15 innovative European companies participated in a 5-day “entrepreneurial bootcamp” that included expert presentations, VC and investor introductions, networking opportunities including the “European Innovation Spotlight” event, visits to key innovation stakeholders like Gladstone Institute, branding and business modelling and valuation workshops, pitch sessions and demo days.
Jean-David Malo, Director of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), along with other EIC high-level representatives, joined the European group of participants and made important remarks about the perks of the programme:
“These 15 beneficiaries, in fact, dive in profoundly in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley ecosystem, to visit innovation hubs, to expand market prospects, to meet with potential partners and investors, and of course to pitch their innovative solutions on several occasions. (…) It is an initiative that we are supporting for our most promising tech innovators to expand their market and become not only European but global champions and leaders”.
After inspiring workshops with INSEAD on Monday and a rich day in Silicon Valley and at NASDAQ on Tuesday, the soft-landing participants spent Wednesday at Stanford University School of Medicine, welcomed by the Director of the Chan-Zuckerberg BioHub, as well as with the Director of Digital Health at Stanford and meeting with the managing partners of Stanford Medicine's Venture Fund, Catalyst. The scale-ups also had the opportunity to pitch to a selected audience of VCs and healthcare industry leaders.
Thursday was dedicated to engagement with leading health, biotech, and life science companies, including Bay Area Council members, and Bay Area venture investors, as it was spent in the Bay Area Council Headquarters at the historic Klamath ferryboat.
The Friday included high-level appointments with a “Brand training session” by Goodby Silverstein and a Session on “How to assess and access funding”, culminating then in the “European Innovation Spotlight” networking event which brought together the EIC-backed companies with world-leading innovators, entrepreneurs, and industry investors, welcomed by Gerard De Graaf, Head of EU Office in San Francisco, along with Jean-David Malo and Jillian Manus.
The EIC-supported companies reported on the soft-landing experience:
“We learned how our presence in the US needs to be like. The programme has disrupted our thinking and created space for us to develop a new way that works”.
(Simas Tatoris, CTO of Ligence)
Get a glance at the Soft-landing highlights in the video.
About the EIC Soft-landing Programme
Following the EIC International Trade Fairs & USA Soft-landing Programme 3.0 success, the EIC Soft-landing initiative is now a stand-alone programme. This new exclusive business acceleration service provides customised guidance and the adequate tools for EIC awardees who have launched and gained traction abroad and want to expand to a new market without keeping their attention away from their main operations at home.
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.