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Tag ‘EASME’
EIC: 261 proposals seek funding under Fast Track to Innovation
May
31
2019
The European Commission received 261 proposals for Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) before the latest cut-off date on 25 May 2019.
FTI promotes close-to-the market innovation activities open to all types of participants. The programme offers € 3 million to consortia composed of 3 to 5 partners including mainly industrial participants.
FTI is fully bottom-up. As there are no set topics, proposals are classified according to the keywords introduced by applicants. The top keywords introduced were engineering, health and ICT.
The proposals include participants from 28 countries, the largest number of proposals being submitted by Spanish, Italian and Dutch applicants.
Fast Track to innovation (FTI) is part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot and helps close-to-the-market innovations jointly developed by small companies and their industrial partners get on the market faster.
Results will be available in autumn 2019.
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Scaling up innovative circular solutions for plastics
May
14
2019
The Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) is organising a side session during the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) in Helsinki, Finland, on 3 June 2019: ‘Scaling up innovative circular solutions for plastics’.
The participants will address the key aspects for scaling up innovative circular solutions for plastics and the main future opportunities and orientations for the circular economy in the plastics sector. They will also have the opportunity to learn how projects funded by Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, address these and other challenges to boost circular economy solutions for plastics.
The Side session “Scaling up innovative circular solutions for plastics” aims at bringing together innovators, researchers, companies, public authorities and policy makers to promote circular economy in the plastic sector.
An interactive workshop with projects pitches, live pools, discussion tables, along with other activities will be organised to facilitate exchanges of views between participants.
Registration
To participate in the Side session “Scaling up innovative circular solutions for plastics” on 3 June contact Marco Ranieri and Stefania Rocca from EASME. The number of places is limited and they will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
Read the original article on the EASME website.
Secrets of Success 2018-2019: Entrepreneurs of Europe – Connecting, Sharing and Innovating
April
25
2019
‘Secrets of Success’, the biennial brochure that celebrates entrepreneurial successes across Europe and COSME countries, is back with another cohort of innovative entrepreneurs.
The latest edition investigates the journeys that entrepreneurs from across Europe have taken, discovering their motivation, and recording their struggles along the way. In ‘Secrets of Success’ we showcase small and medium-sized enterprises in the European Members States and countries in COSME, Europe’s programme for small and medium-sized enterprises. The entrepreneurs come from wide-ranging sectors, and bring a great variety of experiences to this year’s edition. Despite their differences, they all share the following two values: ‘Learning from Failure’ and ‘Building your Best Team’. Through both struggles and successes, these entrepreneurs are examples of persistence, and highlight the benefits of connecting, sharing and innovating.
Read this year’s edition to learn from these entrepreneurs and allow their stories to inspire you on your own entrepreneurial journey.
Connecting social innovators with modern challenges
April
16
2019
The modern world is full of both challenges and solutions, yet how can we ensure that innovative minds are made aware of the problems they can solve? Where can those with a solution connect with those who need their ideas? The Social Challenges Innovation Platform answers those needs and provides a marketplace and meeting hub for those with a challenge, to conect with those with an innovative solution.
The platform provides a place for exchange and an opportunity to build partnerships to feed the European Social Ecosystem with innovative solutions. The platform supports Public Authorities, Private Companies, and Third Sector Organisations, referred to as Challenge Owners, through the process of identifying social and environmental challenges, and deciding which ones should be uploaded to the platform.
Once uploaded to the platform, the challenges can be viewed by Solution Providers which can be social innovators, startups, SMEs or other innovators. The providers then use the platform to accelerate their innovations and connect with those who need them most. Solution Providers can also apply for the open calls, and submit proposals to receive a grant of up to EUR 30.000 along with six months of mentoring to fully develop solutions to be used by Challenge Owners.
The first open call and the awarded projects on the platform have already produced results. You can find out more about the platform, its work and the awarded projects on the main website.
Watch the web-series about the socialchallenges.eu projects here:
EIC Investor Day: Empowering women innovators
April
11
2019
Companies that have women in leading positions consistently perform better than companies that don’t. However, innovative, techy and digital companies still excruciatingly lack women entrepreneurs. On 4 April, 33 innovative companies led by women and funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot met for an EIC Investor Day in Brussels to promote the access of women entrepreneurs to finance. In addition to panel discussions with investors and plenty of networking, 12 innovative companies got to pitch in front of investors. In addition, European Commissioner for Innovation Carlos Moedas announced the 13 finalists for the EU Prize for Women Innovators 2019, two of which are funded by the EIC.
Ambassador Luminita Odobescu, Permanent Representative of Romania to the European Union and a mother of two, stressed the importance of educating young boys towards a goal of gender balance. “Political actors and business support organisations need to support women entrepreneurs in access to credit, cut red tape and mainstream gender perspective in all EU policies”.
Gitte Pederson – a co-founder of Genomic Expression, emphasised the significance of networks among entrepreneurs: “It is important that women connect and help each other. You are trained so well in that first stage of the relationship, but since your investors are usually your partners, there is the whole other side to it which is all about getting to know each other”.
The event hosted 17 investors from the private sector and investors from the European Investment Bank.
The EIC Corporate Days link entrepreneurs with international companies to engage in open innovation towards new products, pilot projects and new business models. Since 2017, more than 400 companies funded under the SME Instrument, Fast Track to Innovation and FET Open have participated in matchmaking events with large corporates across Europe.
Read the original article on the EASME website here.
EIC pilot and MAN drive the future for sustainable mobility and smart logistics
April
09
2019
18 companies backed by the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot and working in the fields of electric mobility, connected transportation, and intelligent supply chains explored business opportunities with MAN Truck & Bus on 19 March in Munich, Germany.
Florian Stehbeck, Digital Innovation Manager and responsible for startup collaboration at MAN Truck & Bus, talked about the motivations behind the event: “We’re looking partners who are active in our core businesses. The production of hardware components, sales applications and engineering tools. But we’re also looking for “out of the box” approaches and new challenges.” Other MAN representatives also expressed the ambition to continue shaping the mobility and logistics industry by partnering with European entrepreneurs who share the vision of a more sustainable mobility future.
To learn more about the companies in attendance and their funded projects, visit the EASME data hub:
Bestmile, Cambrian Intelligence, Fastree3D, Follow Inspiration, Insplorion, KG Protech, KINE, Linknovate, Maxitex, Mazaro, Millor Energy Solutions, Nerve Smart Systems, Nextsense, OneWatt, ONO, Pagita, Stratio Automotive and Valuechain.
The EIC Corporate Days link entrepreneurs with international companies to engage in open innovation towards new products, pilot projects and new business models. Since 2017, more than 400 companies funded under the SME Instrument, Fast Track to Innovation and FET Open have participated in matchmaking events with large corporates across Europe.
To learn more about the EIC Corporate Days, read the 2018 report, and to apply for future opportunities, have look at the event page.
Read the original article on the EASME website here.
The new call for energy efficiency is now open!
March
19
2019
Around €112 million of EU funding is now available for energy efficiency research, innovation and market uptake. The deadline for applications is 3 September 2019.
The deadline for submission of proposals is 3 September 2019. The call is managed by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the European Commission. (EASME). All proposals for Horizon 2020 funding are submitted through the EU’s Funding and Tender Opportunities portal.
The specific funding topics were presented at the Horizon 2020 Energy Efficiency Info Day on 22 January 2019, and video recordings as well as the presentation slides are available for viewing. The Info Day also featured presentations on the EU policy context and guidance from EASME on how to submit an excellent proposal.
Horizon 2020 Energy Efficiency is also on Twitter.
Watch the video and discover the benefits of H2020 programme:
Read the original article on the EASME website here.
The European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) also recognise projects working towards sustainability, clean energy and environmental consciousness through the Supporting the development of green markets and resource efficiency category. Look through previous tetsimonials here on the News Portal and don’t hesitate to contact your EEPA National Coordinator for more information on this category and how to apply!
Investor Day for Women in Tech
February
12
2019
The European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot of the European Commission is hosting an exclusive pitching event for Women in Tech. The event will take place on 4 April 2019 in Brussels, and will be an opportunity to meet female entrepreneurs and top tier European investors, as well as discuss the challenges facing female entrepreneurs and how to address the financing gap.
By attending this EIC Investor Day, you will have a chance to:
• Pitch your technology and business case to a renowned jury of European investors;
• Be involved in discussions about the financing gap for women entrepreneurs;
• Network with fellow EIC pilot funded SMEs and engage directly with top European investors.
Who can apply?
The application is only open for small and medium-sized enterprises funded by the EIC pilot program and with the following criteria:
• Female founder or CEO; and/or
• A management team structure well represented by women; and/or
• Development of an innovative solution with a strong gender dimension.
Deadline for applications: 20 February 2019. Apply here.
For more information on the event and applications, read the original article on the EASME website.
Meet 20 pioneers transforming the future of healthcare
January
31
2019
On 28 and 29 November 2018, the European Innovation Council (EIC) and Medtronic, a leader in the world of medical technology, gathered 20 companies to discuss the transformation of healthcare and promote business partnerships.
However, at the stage when SMEs are growing, they need considerable financial resources to continue investments in product development and clinical trials, in order to bring their products to market faster. To tackle these challenges the EIC pilot and Medtronic promoted a matchmaking and business acceleration event in Tolochenaz, Switzerland, home of Medtronic’s EMEA headquarters.
20 companies backed by the EIC pilot took the stage and shared their innovative health care solutions for medical devices and therapies, mobile and remote health, patient engagement, diagnostics, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, data analytics and robotics.
At the event, we talked to Ger Hill, Senior Director Global Innovation at Medtronic, about Medtronic’s innovation strategy and learned that “For a company like Medtronic who has currently reached around 30B$ in revenue, maintaining revenue growth requires us to draw on innovation not only from our substantial organic internal innovation, but also from external partners. There are a lot of smart people who don’t work at Medtronic, and we want to collaborate with them to turn their ideas and concepts into products and solutions for patients and Medtronic.”
We also spoke with Charity Kufaas, Vice President, Business Development & Strategy EMEA at Medtronic, who shared her view on the quality of the companies attending: “The technologies of the companies I’ve seen today are truly innovative and address unmet needs. There were a number that we found really interesting and which I’m sure we’ll follow up after the event.”
Sourced from EASME.
Read the original article on the EASME website.
Over 1750 small businesses seek funding under the EIC SME Instrument
January
15
2019
The European Commission received 1752 proposals for the European Innovation Council pilot’s SME Instrument Phase 2 before the latest cut-off date on 9 January 2019. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 37 countries submitted proposals. Selected projects will be announced in early March 2019 at the latest.
The biggest number of proposals for this batch were submitted by Spanish applicants (266), followed closely by Italian (182) and Israeli applicants (136).
Since 2018, the SME Instrument is part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot. A novelty under the EIC pilot is that applications are fully bottom-up. Therefore as there are no longer set topics, proposals are classified according to keywords introduced by applicants. The top keywords introduced were Health, ICT and engineering and technology.
In addition, applications are evaluated in two steps, a remote evaluation and a face-to-face interview with a Jury of business and innovation experts. These interviews will concern around 135 companies, approximately half of which will get the funding. The interviews will happen in Brussels during the week of 11-15 February 2019. For more information read the tips for applicants.
Results are expected to be announced in early March 2019 at the latest.
Read the original article on the EASME website.
