SKALE2CT | Interreg Europe Project’s Post

I am happy to see %30 women-led companies application and of course huge amount of companies applied for this selective tool (November 2024 cut-off). Good luck to all 🦋 For the companies who may not get the grant-investment, just keep calm and read the evaluators feedbacks to improve your proposal for the next cut-off. The battle never ends:) #EUeic #eicAccelerator #genderequality

The ~25% higher application rates might thrill the EIC, but will the success rates thrill the applicants? 🧐 No doubt the mishap of not evaluating Step 1 proposals for nearly a month back in Feb 2024, making applicants miss the March deadline has something to do with this “popularity”? 🥸 Consultancies using AI to flood the system with proposal is another reason, as even if quality would drop “even a broken clock is right twice per day” and how else will they survive if competitor submits 10x more proposals than them? Costs for evaluation go up ~25%. Plausibly toward 400 will be invited to interviews in Brussels, which will require use of additional, inexperienced jurors. 🤪 Those applicants who think they will “hack it” without thorough preparation should reconsider showing up at all.

Let the games begin! During this new episode of the Hunger EIC Games 1,211 contenders, or tributes, who previously were chosen by four positive Phase One Evaluators, enter the so-called Second Phase. The tributes have spent hundreds of hours filling their proposals out and detailing their business and work plans. The battle is against Three Phase Two Evaluators. More than 500 tributes will lose their lives against them. However, the most terrifying part of the film is still to come. Around 500 tributes, acclaimed by their districts (the NCPs), will travel to The Capitol (Brussels) for a 30 minutes interview. During the interview, the tributes will defend their projects in front of The High Phase Three Jury. Nothing unexpected, mostly simple questions followed by comprehensive answers. The tributes get back home relieved and buoyant! The plot then suddenly turns.... The High Phase Three Jury meets at The Capitol and selects no more than 70 tributes to survive. In just a few hours in The Capitol, the High Jury decides the winners. No one has ever seen what really happens in this decision process as it is highly confidential. The outcome is dramatic: more than 400 tributes are sacrificed in just a few hours. Many rejections are justified with just a couple of lines: a tribute targeting a multi-billion market is rejected because "the market is limited", another one with 12 patents because their "IP portfolio is weak". Even more dramatically, some tributes are rejected because " the need for EIC funding is not justified" or 'the team is not well incentivised'. In my opinion, the plot follows a compelling narrative until the last part in The Capitol, when things get really obscure. Also, the Director (The EIC ) has been using a very similar “copycat” plot during many episodes being extremely slow in introducing innovations. The outcome is that the narrative has become predictable and lacking suspense. Critics and followers expect the Director (The EIC) to implement important changes in the narrative and characters, both evaluators and jury, for the 2025 sequel. An increase in budget is however unexpected. Good luck to the tributes! :-)

The first day of the Week of Innovative Regions in Europe 2024 has wrapped up with a give-and-take on how to strengthen #innovation ecosystems in EU regions. “Closer collaboration between #science and #industry is key to promoting innovation,” according to Marina Papageorgiou of the Cyprus-based Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East – Climate and Atmosphere Research (EMME-CARE) project, but she pointed out it is “not always easy to achieve.” COOPERATE, a project at the Eindhoven University of Technology involving counterparts in several other EU countries has been cited as a successful example of how to build strong regional relationships. Project coordinator Ntorina Antoni explains it provides a platform for #knowledge transfer and research #partnerships between leading #research institutions. With participants from over 20 countries gathered in Budapest for #WIRE24, the discussions continue tomorrow—stay tuned for more insights and success stories on the role of regions in overcoming the fragmentation of the European innovation ecosystem! Sponsored by NRDIO - National Research Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH)

Ecorys recently participated in this year’s European Research and Innovation Days. 📝🚀💡 This event brings together stakeholders including policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and the public to discuss and share experiences on how research and innovation (R&I) impacts our society. Participants and panellists have been exchanging their ideas on the future of R&I and its role in making Europe more competitive and sustainable. 🌱🌍 We are involved in a number of #ResearchAndInnovation projects, including the Green Deal Projects Support Office (GD-SO), which supports 73 projects funded by the European Commission under the Green Deal Call. The GD-SO brings together these projects designed to accelerate a just and sustainable transition to a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 and supports them and facilitating collaboration, sharing best practices, and increasing their impact. 🤝 The GD-SO is one of the few projects selected to have a stand at this year’s R&I days and also participated in a main session during the event. Find out more about the GD-SO’s participation in R&I days here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eYZv7pY9 #RIDaysEU #research #innovation #green

Have you seen the ESIL article on Science|Business? 👀 ESIL, an EU-funded project, led by Business Angels Europe, META Group, and EuroQuity - Bpifrance, aims to increase the number of angel investors in Eastern Europe. We offer two-day training sessions in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Croatia, and Hungary to train around 20 new angel investors per country. This initiative is crucial, as only €395.9 million of the $7.3 billion in European angel investments in 2023 went to Eastern Europe. With more angel investors, start-ups in these regions can grow and innovate better. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/daV6Neyh #AngelInvesting #Innovation #ESIL #TheNextGenOfAngels ESIL is a two-year programme of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA).

Every time I meet the Italian Tech Alliance team, it's because they are building bridges for the Italian tech ecosystem. This was evident at the South Summit in Madrid a few years ago, Viva Technology in Paris this spring, and once again yesterday at the Italian Embassy in Paris for the second edition of Italy’s DeepTech and ClimaTech Innovation Champions. In collaboration with 360 Capital and ITA - Paris Office, they facilitated insightful and diverse discussions, bringing together institutions, corporations, VCs, CVCs, researchers and entrepreneurs presenting resilient solutions built on strong technological foundations. The event ended with Pascal Cagni, Chairman of Business France, delivering encouraging and motivating closing remarks, providing data-driven insights on Italy’s strengths in the innovation landscape. It’s clear that stronger collaboration between the Italian and French ecosystems can be a key driver in empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs to tackle global challenges through #deeptech and #climatech innovation.

Have you heard of projects geting EU-funding? Want to know more? 🇪🇺💡🌍💶 Horizon Europe is one of EU’s #fundingprogrammes that you might be interested in! Through collaboration between industry, academia, SMEs, cities, institutes etc from different European countries, the #impact of innovation is strengthened and #climatechange is being tackled. Can you contribute and at the same time grow your business and/or contribute to the creation of jobs within your industry or beyond? If yes - check out #HorizonEurope ! #EUproject #EUfunding #jobcreation 👉🏻Need support in gathering the right partners to form a strong #consortium ? Need help with structure, design and writing of a competive proposal? Check out #Spinverse and reach out to our #innovationconsultants

📣 Commission has released a report on the state of play of the New European Innovation Agenda (NEIA). 🔎The communication on NEIA was adopted on 5 July 2022 and it aims to position Europe at the forefront of the #deeptech #innovation, developing new technologies to address pressing societal challenges, and bringing them to the market. #NEIA outlined 25 actions. According to the report, among those 25 actions 13 have been completed and 12 are still ongoing. 🤔Personally, the most interesting part of this report is the actions under the flagship “Accelerating and strengthening innovation in European innovation ecosystems across the EU and addressing the #InnovationDivide”. Most actions under this flagship are still ongoing; therefore, it will be interesting to see what kind of effect those actions will have when implemented. 👉 Full report: https://lnkd.in/eMRCmKdV

Brain Circulation across Europe - brain drain or brain gain? In the panel of the Eurodoc Annual Conference we focused on the migration of highly educated individuals, especially early-career researchers.