BAS - European Commission

Business Acceleration Services

Under Horizon Europe, at the EIC we strive to ensure that financial support is only the beginning of your journey as an EIC beneficiary, with mechanisms available to bring your innovations to the market and grow your business. As an EIC-supported startup or innovator, you can benefit from access to a range of tailor-made EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS) available at any stage of development of your activities and of the EIC research and innovation cycle.

Who can benefit from these services?

EIC Awardees from the EIC Accelerator (SME Instrument included), EIC Transition and EIC Pathfinder (FET Active and FET Open included) funding schemes
Women TechEU awardees (implemented under the ‘European Innovation Ecosystems)
Members of the EIC Scaling Club
As an EIC Accelerator applicant invited to prepare a full proposal (successfully passed Step 1), you can benefit from 3 days of remote coaching, and get support with the preparation of the full proposal (Step 2 application).
Some of the services are also available to companies receiving the Seal of Excellence (under Horizon Europe) as well as to innovators and companies coming from other European or national initiatives that have entered into a specific agreement with the EIC.

The EIC BAS have no expiration date. Even if your project has ended, you are eligible to apply to our services.

EIC Community platform

Our Business Acceleration Services are either developed directly by the EIC or provided through the EIC Ecosystem Partners, and you can access them through the EIC Community Platform. This innovation hub gathers all researchers and entrepreneurs supported by the EIC and connects them with coaches, national contact points, corporates, investors, procurers, EIC staff and other stakeholders with the potential to elevate their business.

What services are available?

The EIC Business Acceleration Services are structured around three main pillars providing you with access to all that is needed to boost your growth:

Contracts
Contacts
Skills

A. Contracts

Your presence at the EIC is your gateway to matching activities with large corporations, investors, procurers and business partners. In 2021-2024 alone, our programmes led to a total of 230 deals, EUR 362M of investment rounds facilitated through investor outreach and pitching, and 391 FTEs expected from deals signed at trade fairs.

Discover our programmes providing you with access to contracts and boost your business:

EIC Corporate Partnership Programme: Scale up your business by establishing valuable business collaborations with the largest corporations in Europe
EIC Innovation Procurement Programme: Elevate your business by accessing procurement markets of leading public and private sector buyers in Europe and at a global level with three initiatives:
EIC International Trade Fairs Programme: Promote your commercialisation strategy in foreign markets and leverage business opportunities at the most popular trade fairs across the world.
EIC Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme: Get access to the necessary tools and knowledge to attract investors and scale your ventures.
EIC Scaling Club: Join an exclusive community of 100+ European high-growth deep-tech champions and their partners.
InnoNext (Next Generation Innovation Talents): Take your innovations beyond the invention stages and develop your entrepreneurial mindset.
EIC Soft-landing programme: Expand your business into some of the most innovative hubs in the world supported by local experts and without taking your attention away from their main operations at home.

B. Contacts

As an EIC-supported researcher, innovator or entrepreneur, you can benefit from access to a wide ecosystem network comprising:

1,000+ corporates, investors and public buyers
600+ coaches and mentors
170+ Ecosystem partners
100+ experts across areas such as intellectual property, regulation and venture building

Discover our programmes providing you with access to contacts:

EIC Community Platform: Join an extensive innovation network and establish yourself on the European and global market by connecting with peers and business partners.
EIC Ecosystem Partnership Programme: Access specialised sector-focused services offered by EIC Partners.

C. Skills

As an EIC-supported researcher, innovator or entrepreneurs, you can enjoy access to tailor-made coaching, mentoring, expertise and training delivered by specialised providers and adapted to your innovation stage.

Discover our programmes to advance your business skills and take over leadership positions:

EIC Coaching Programme: Receive coaching and training tailored to your specific needs, starting as early as the stage of proposal preparation (step 2).
EIC Community Programme: Connect with partners and boost your skills with peer-learning workshops and tailor-made training activities.
EIC Tech to Market Programme: Accelerate your science-startup project and transition from lab to market through specialised support and Design Thinking methodologies.
EIC Women Leadership Programme: Strengthen your entrepreneurial skills and expand your network among female leaders with the support of a personal mentor and business coach.

Work with us

The European Innovation Council is open for new collaborations with other business enablers. Check our open calls:

If you are a corporate:
Corporate Partnership Programme Call
If you are public or private buyer:
Innovation Procurement Programme Call
If you are an accelerator, incubator, scale-up and/or growth consultant, or a research and training organisation:
Ecosystem Partnership Programme: Call for partners
If you are an expert, mentor or analyst that want to work with early-stage ventures:
Tech 2 Market Programme: Call for experts
If you are a venture capital fund, corporate venture arm (CVCs), private equity fund, impact fund, angel investor, family office or another type of investor:
Co-invest with the EIC Fund

Calendar

January

February

March

April

EIC Community training on artificial intelligence and tools for innovation (side event to the EIC Summit), Brussels (Belgium), 1 April
Investor Day on Climate Tech, Brussels (Belgium), 2 April
EIC Summit, Brussels (Belgium), 2-3 April
EIC Corporate Day with OMV Petrom, Bucharest (Romania), 9-10 April
GITEX Africa, Marrakech (Morocco), 14-16 April
EIC Corporate Day with Eurofins, Niefern-Öschelbronn (Germany), 15-16 April
EIC Corporate Day with Unilever Foundry, Liverpool (UK), 29-30 April

May

EIC Corporate Day with Thales, Torino (Italy), 20-21 May
GITEX Europe, Berlin (Germany), 21-23 May

June

EIC Multi-Corporate Day with Ferrovial, Sacyr, Acciona and Vinci, Madrid (Spain), 3-4 June
EIC Corporate Day with Clariane, France, 12-13 June
BIO 2025, Boston (USA), 16-19 June
EIC Corporate Day with ABB, Bergamo (Italy), 23-24 June

July

EIC Multi-Corporate Day All4Zero, Madrid (Spain), July (date to be announced)

October

EIC Corporate Day with P&G and Innovation Roundtable, Brussels (Belgium), 7-8 October
GITEX Global, Dubai (UAE), 13-17 October
EIC Corporate Day with Bayer (location and date to be announced)

September

EIC Corporate Day with B. Braun, Germany, September (date to be announced)
EIC Corporate Day with Zurich Insurance, September (date to be announced)

November

Web Summit, Lisbon (Portugal), 10-13 November
MEDICA, Düsseldorf (Germany), 17-20 November
Slush, Helsinki (Finland), 19-20 November
EIC Multi-Corporate Day with Ab InBev and Cargill (location and date to be announced)

Find out more on the EIC Community Platform.

EIC BAS Newsletter

The EIC Business Acceleration Services Newsletter is your go-to source for the latest updates on open calls for applications, inspiring success stories, exclusive interviews, partner calls and other engaging news.

Subscribe now!