As part of the EIC Tech to Market (EIC T2M) Entrepreneurship Programme, the European Innovation Council (EIC) invites EIC Pathfinder (former FET-Open and FET- Proactive), EIC Transition, and all innovators eligible for EIC Tech to Market (see section “Who can apply”) to apply for the EIC T2M Business Idea Validation Bootcamp.
The Bootcamp will start on 2nd April and will include collective workshops, team coaching, and interviews over 4 weeks to design the business model based on your initial idea and to test it outside the lab.
The former participants found the EIC T2M Business Idea Validation Bootcamp highly valuable, mainly for strengthening their design thinking skills and validating their business model through tailored feedback from experts in their field. The technical feedback was deemed the most beneficial for the advancement of their technology solutions, while the business-oriented feedback was taken into account for their business plans and strategies. Learn more about this bootcamp from a former participant's perspective in the following article.
Are you interested in this opportunity?
Make sure to apply until 25 March 2024!
What to expect from the Bootcamp?
The EIC T2M Business Idea Validation Bootcamp aims to help researchers to bring their project from the research stage to impact creating innovation by using the Design Thinking Methodology. Starting from a common baseline, the programme includes personalized, step by step support to strengthen the value proposition and align it with respect to the market needs, get feedback and insights from customers and investors, get tailored training and support to pre-validate the business model.
The EIC T2M Business Idea Validation Bootcamp is a 4-week support programme to help participants align their research results with real business challenges and receive real-world inputs from industry representatives and investors to strengthen their value proposition and align it to the market needs.
The programme aims to evaluate the business idea and its market readiness by:
- Applying an entrepreneurial mindset to research outcomes
- Strengthening business and design thinking skills
- Developing and validating the business model with support and feedback from experts
- Training participants on how to establish business idea validation strategies and readiness within their teams
- Performing a 'reality check' on the developed business model
- Preparing for and implementing a pitch presentation in front of a jury that provides expertise in ideation, technology, and business aspects.
Activities and timeline:
The Bootcamp will run for four weeks, from 2nd to 26th April 2024.
- 4 weeks (8 to 12 hours/week) of group training activities, coaching, and mentoring, plus one-to one feedback from market stakeholders/investors through direct online interviews.
- Week 1: Introductory session and introduction to the design thinking methodology and business model theory. Coaching and mentoring in correspondence with the learning content and hands on activities for the development of the business idea. Preparation for the Business Idea Validation Procedure (12 hours).
- Week 2&3: Online interviews with stakeholders (8 hours). These 2 weeks are devoted to testing and validating your business idea viability through interviews with at least 10 industry/market representatives and investors. In parallel you will be supported through business idea validation process by coaching sessions.
- Week 4: Group sessions (8 to 12 hours). Support to integrate the feedback, make the final adjustments of your business idea and business plan and to explore funding opportunities for early-stage investments in the creation of your business.
Topics covered in training and mentoring sessions:
- Introduction to Design Thinking Methodology
- Business Model Design and Business Model Canvas
- Business Idea and Planning
- Business Idea Validation
- Impactful pitching for fundraising and business development
- Access to Funding for early-stage businesses.
Who can apply?
The application for this initiative is open only to EIC Pathfinder (ex. FET-Open and FET-Proactive), EIC Transition, ERC-POC, Women TechEU beneficiaries, and EIC Seal of Excellence holders.
Please note that projects from all domains and sectors are welcome to apply.
The EIC T2M Business Idea Validation Bootcamp is open to motivated teams of researchers and to individual researchers. For teams, complementary profiles are considered to form eligible and successful teams and provide high-quality engagement. The profile of participants can be:
- Entrepreneurial lead/representative: responsible for the business orientation and entrepreneurial side of the idea/innovation (usually postdocs, PhD students or any researcher that could imagine herself or himself as a potential entrepreneur).
- Technology lead/representative: responsible for driving the technical direction of the idea/innovation and focused on how technology can be used to support business objectives.
The number of places is limited. A selection committee will choose the best applications based on the following criteria:
- Strong motivation of the team to work on the entrepreneurial project
- Dedicated time to attend an intensive one-month training programme
- Business idea maturity/development stage.
Additional information
EIC Business Acceleration Services
This opportunity is brought to you by the EIC Business Acceleration Services through its Tech to Market (T2M) programme.
All participants need to fill out a short quality survey just after the event and an impact survey after six months.
To explore further opportunities, keep an eye on our events page.
The services to be delivered will cover EIC beneficiaries from all the countries participating in the EIC programme, namely, all the 27 EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries.
To learn more about EIC Tech to Market (T2M) programmes, check out the FAQ page.
Cancellation policy
Cancellations will only be considered in duly documented cases of “force majeure”. Unjustified cancellation can lead to exclusion in future Business Acceleration Services events.
Need help?
Should you have any questions regarding the event or your eligibility, please contact us through our contact page (please choose “EIC T2M Entrepreneurship 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.