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. 

• 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. 

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.

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

Your presence at the EIC is your gateway to matching activities with large corporations, investors, procurers and business partners. In 2021-2023 alone, our programmes led to a total of 103 deals, and EUR 50 million expected turnover generated from 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: Enhance your access to market opportunities and procurement markets at the European and global levels.
• 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 Scaling Club: Join an exclusive community of 100+ European high-growth deep-tech champions and their partners.
• EIC 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. 

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 
• 140+ 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 Partnerships and Co-Investment Support Programme: Connect with potential co-investors partners providing incubation, growth, acceleration, testing and scale-up services and 
• EIC Executives in Residence Pilot Programme: Coming soon!

As an EIC-supported researcher, innovator or entrepreneurs, you can enjoy free 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.

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

June

• EIC Service Catalogue: Ask me Anything, Online, 20 June (open call ongoing)
• Techsylvania, Cluj Napoca (Romania), 26-27 June 
• SPIN4EIC pitching session at the European Urban Resilience Forum, Valencia (Spain), 27 June 
• EIC Women Leadership Programme: 5th Cohort Closing Ceremony, Online, 27 June (invitation only)

July

• EIC Summer School - Access to finance made easy, Online, 5 and 12 July

September

• TechBBQ, Copenhagen (Denmark), 11-12 September 
• Bits&Pretzels, Munich (Germany), 29 September-1 October  

October

• EIC Soft-landing Mission to Singapore with Acclime, 24-30 October (open call until July 1st) 

Coming soon 

• Soft-landing week in USA Q4 2024
• Gitex New technologies, Dubai (UAE), October 2024
• Medica Health & Medical care, Dusseldorf (Germany), November 2024

An overview of all past events can be found on the EIC Community Platform. 

Find all the answers on the Business Acceleration Services in the FAQ section