Agenda

Intellectual Property (IP) session will tackle why it is never too early to pay attention to IP in a project. It will explain how to get a proper IP due diligence of a technology, what to expect, what are the main elements, how to look for IP experts and explore existing services available to EIC beneficiaries

Innovation Procurement (IP) offers business opportunities to innovators. This session highlights the EIC BAS and other EU Programs on IP that facilitate the access of innovators to procurement markets, enabling thus their scaling-up through the commercialization of their innovative solutions.

There are a number of regulatory and non-regulatory barriers which hinder the growth and innovation of potential of European start-ups and scaleups. We, as the European Commission, want to address these hurdles though a whole array of instruments and initiatives, be they at European level or support Member States to tackle the ones at their level. Committing to ensure that start-ups have the best conditions to grow at every stage of their life cycle is everyone’s duty. In this context, the session will entail contributions from DG RTD and the European Start-up Nations Alliance (ESNA). In addition, it will bring concrete example of start-ups and scaleups which have tackled lately regulatory and non-regulatory barriers.

In this session the two Programme Managers in charge of EIC Digital Thematic Areas: Samira Nik, Quantum Technologies and Electronics and Isabel Obieta, Responsible Electronics will provide an overview of EIC Digital activities, their role in supporting EIC beneficiaries, and their vision about the future of EIC Digital initiatives. The Digital Programme Managers would also like to use this opportunity to establish a dialogue with EIC beneficiaries and discuss their urgent needs as well as their visions on potential impact of EIC funding in their current undertakings.

The session will be a round table involving 2 women led innovative companies, EBAN representative and a VC/Investor to share experience on access to funding/investments, challenges and opportunities. Enterprise Europe Network (EEN)’s clients - the 2 SMEs representatives - will also share on their "client journey" experience and how the EEN helped to make it a positive one.

In the actual world driven by technological innovation knowledge value-chains are becoming increasingly complex. New market opportunities are dynamically created by emerging technologies and disruptive innovation. Needs and diverse knowledge transfer channels and tools widen the range of stakeholders of research and innovation (R&I) knowledge valorisation. New forms of collaboration between academia, industry and public sector, involvement of citizens and the international context of R&I activities create new opportunities, but also come with some challenges.

This session is dedicated to R&I knowledge valorisation with a focus on technology transfer from research towards markets. The discussion will focus on the complex and challenging task of scientific and technological knowledge valorisation and turning of R&I results into sustainable solutions of social and economic value. The participants will discuss the best practises to strengthen the impact of R&I investments on economy and society in the fourth wave of innovation driven by emerging technologies and disruptive innovation (so called ‘deep-tech’). The session will provide interesting experiences of successful collaboration between ambitious researchers and Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) in pushing their results towards the market. We will also hear about the ATTRACT model, a novel approach to accelerating the valorisation of fundamental science in a co-innovation approach. The session will also give some insight into key barriers and practical difficulties for an efficient and impactful uptake of technological results. The session will end with Q&A.

Show the audience about the mechanism, the excitement and the fun of pitching. A panel of three very different investors will discuss and question the pro's and con's of the pitches, presented by start-ups. They may end up quarrelling humourously about what they want to do with the pitchers.

In this session, two Programme Managers in charge of Thematic Areas that are traditionally considered “hard-to-abate” – Franc Mouwen, Architecture Engineering Construction and Carina Faber, Electrofuels and Biofuels – will stretch imagination how natural solutions can inspire alternatives to cement and kerosene to decarbonize the sectors they fuel. Both Programme Managers will review EIC current activities in these areas and reflect on their role in supporting EIC beneficiaries. This will be an opportunity to establish a dialogue with EIC beneficiaries and discuss their urgent needs, as well as their visions on potential impact of EIC funding in their current undertakings.

Start-ups are a ‘power engine’ of Europe’s economy. Their importance can never be overestimated. Yet they struggle to scale-up for a diversity of reasons, one being lack of access to finance – even if the situation has been steadily improving over the last years, with the EIC certainly to be credited as well. The session will venture into two spheres of the start-up financing world: the role and challenges for early-stage investors, chiefly angel investing, and the so-called ‘alternative finance,’ or crowdfunding, which is gaining traction. Enhancing synergies of these with the EIC will also be addressed, as the EIC’s intention is always to crowd-in existing market forces.

EIC Corporate Partnership Programme is focused on bridging the gap between European “Davids and Goliaths”, to leverage the full potential of innovation in Europe through open innovation. Since 2017, the EIC has developed this programme with more than 100 of the largest European firms and more than 1000 EIC beneficiaries involved. In this session, you will hear and learn directly from some of the most experienced corporate leaders on open innovation, sharing their experience with the EIC and their strategies, best practices and tips on startup-big firm cooperation.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and academia play an important role as R&D engines and technology providers, spurring the development of novel and complex healthcare solutions, such as immunotherapies, gene and cell therapies, tissue-engineered products, and biomarker-based targeted interventions. This session will highlight the role of the European Medicines Agency in supporting smaller actors in the biopharmaceutical innovation ecosystem and present the Agency’s incentives to address regulatory aspects of development programmes and optimise evidence generation. It will also set out the role of the SME office as part of the Agency’s Regulatory Science Strategy, the support to academic researchers, and engagement with the EIC.

In this session, Programme Managers Stela Tkatchova in charge of Space Systems and Ivan Stefanic in charge of Food and Agritech will give the overview and share the vision for their respective Thematic Areas. The list of accumulated problems in their sector is long so why not to transform them into competitive entrepreneurial opportunities with help of EIC programmes. They will also provide an overview of their EIC portfolios, the available instruments to support SMEs/start-up in creating and commercialising breakthrough innovation and talk with EIC beneficiaries about common goals and possible synergies.

In the race to create global technology leaders, Europe needs to spawn solutions to address the scale-up gap and better connect different start-up ecosystems. This is why in the recent years Europe has boosted investments allowing its start-ups to expand their opportunities by acting as key job creators and talent enablers. The Panel discussion will focus on the importance to foster the development of world-class European breakthrough innovation and give our current funded companies an overview of the current opportunities available for EU innovators to scale-up.

Are you an EIC Beneficiary? Then, EIC can help you access Corporates, Investors, Innovation Procurers, connect you with best accelerators, incubators, venture builders or business partners at International Trade Fairs. Join this session and learn about EIC Business Acceleration Services.

In this live FAQ session, EIC beneficiaries from Pathfinder, Transition and Accelerator will be able to address operational and financial questions to senior officers of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) of the European Commission.

In this session two experienced Programme Managers will provide examples of pro-active portfolio management.
The first example by Iordanis Arzimanoglou will explain the strategic intelligence and targeted approach behind the EIC Health and biotech portfolio; the rational for selection of health and biotech projects into a portfolio, and why this is important for the technical autonomy of Europe to compete and sustain globally in selected health and biotech niche areas.
The second example will be by the Programme Manager for Advanced materials for energy and environmental sustainability Francesco Matteucci. He will present what he has done regarding internationalisation activities, in particular with ARPA-E.
During the session, participants are invited to provide feedback on these activities and what type of support they would like to have from the Programme Managers.