14 EIC-backed cleantech scaleups head to Texas for immersive market week
- ›The European Innovation Council will bring 14 EIC-backed cleantech companies to Texas for an Immersive Programme from 8 to 12 December 2025.
- ›The week focuses on tailored US market coaching, investor and corporate matchmaking, reverse pitches, site visits and workshops in Austin and Houston.
- ›Participants cover technologies from lead-cooled SMRs and CO2 long duration storage to drone-based wind repairs, glass 3D printing and hyperspectral LiDAR for oil detection.
- ›Pre-departure work includes an online workshop on 14 November and bespoke coaching with partners such as Greentown Labs and Rice University.
- ›The programme is delivered under the EIC Business Acceleration Services as part of the Global Business Expansion offer formerly known as the Soft-landing Programme.
EIC Immersive Programme in Cleantech heads to Texas
From 8 to 12 December 2025 the European Innovation Council is running an Immersive Programme in Cleantech in Texas, bringing 14 EIC-backed companies to Austin and Houston. The week is designed as an intensive market immersion to help European scaleups test the US market, meet investors and corporate partners, and accelerate partnership and pilot opportunities without distracting from their core operations in Europe.
What the programme offers participants
Organised under the EIC Business Acceleration Services, the Immersive Programme bundles hands-on support meant to shorten the learning curve for market entry. Core services on offer include targeted coaching on US market entry and business development, high-level networking sessions with corporates and investors, reverse-pitch events and one-on-one meetings, plus curated site visits and workshops to provide practical, local market insight.
Who is going: the 14 EIC-supported companies
The delegation spans 9 countries and a wide range of cleantech niches. Below is a compact directory of participants, each entry noting the company, country and the technology or market claim they bring to Texas.
| Company | Country | Technology and core use case |
| Blykalla | Sweden | Factory-built, lead-cooled small modular reactors intended for industrial and data centre power |
| Catalyxx | Spain | Catalytic conversion of bioethanol into drop-in, carbon-negative chemicals such as butanol and hexanol |
| Circular Materials | Italy | High-purity metal recovery from wastewater using patented hydrothermal supercritical technology |
| Dracula Technologies | France | Ultra-thin flexible organic photovoltaic films for harvesting indoor and ambient light to power IoT |
| Energy Dome | Italy | CO2-based long-duration energy storage systems marketed for 24/7 renewable power |
| Infinite Foundry | Portugal | Real-time 3D digital twins powered by physics-based AI to optimise industrial operations and energy use |
| Lava | Israel | Proprietary isothermal liquid-based thermodynamic cycle for efficient heat-to-electricity conversion |
| Nano-Tech | Italy | Lightweight high-temperature composite materials intended to replace metals like titanium |
| Nobula | Sweden | Laser and AI powered 3D printing platform for glass, aimed at optics, photonics and advanced manufacturing |
| Ocean Visuals | Norway | Hyper-spectral LiDAR OWL™ sensors for real-time detection and classification of oil and organics in marine environments |
| Reblade ApS | Denmark | Drone-based automated wind turbine blade maintenance to reduce downtime and repair costs |
| Solar Materials | Germany | Fully automated recycling process for end-of-life solar panels, claiming high recovery with lower energy use |
| Sustonable | Netherlands | Transforming recycled PET bottles and glass into premium surface materials for architecture and design |
| Swiss Vault | Switzerland | VaultFS, an energy-efficient intelligent file system that claims to halve data storage requirements |
Preparatory steps before the Texas week
Selected companies will join an online pre-departure workshop on 14 November with EIC representatives and US market experts. The session will explain the programme’s matchmaking services and week-long agenda. Participants also receive tailored pre-departure coaching delivered with partners including Greentown Labs, Rice University and the University of Luxembourg. Coaching topics include strategic visit planning, pitch refinement, US business culture and ecosystem navigation.
Technical concepts and claims worth scrutinising
Practical hurdles for European cleantech scaleups entering the US
The Texas mission offers access and introductions, but translating meetings into pilots or contracts requires addressing several practical challenges. These include navigating US regulatory and permitting regimes, securing local demonstration sites, adapting product certifications and standards, protecting IP while sharing data, assembling local supply chains and service partners, and obtaining project financing. For capital intensive technologies such as SMRs or large storage, procurement and utility procurement models can be slow and require strong local partnerships.
How the Immersive Programme fits EIC’s wider support
The Immersive Programme is part of the EIC Global Business Expansion Programme under the EIC Business Acceleration Services. It evolved from the earlier EIC Soft-landing pilot offering and sits alongside other services such as innovation procurement support, investor readiness, corporate partnership matchmaking and trade fair support. The EIC BAS is intended to complement grant funding with hands-on market acceleration for awardees.
What to watch for after the immersion week
Shortly after the mission, observers should look for concrete follow ups such as pilot contracts, letters of intent, investment commitments, or procurement pipelines. EIC has historically tracked outcomes such as one-on-one meetings, deals and financing mobilised through its BAS. Given the high capital needs of some participating technologies, the conversion rate from meetings to commercial pilots will be a key indicator of the mission’s success.
For EU policymakers and ecosystem actors the Texas mission tests whether curated immersion programmes materially shorten market entry time and reduce friction for deep-tech cleantech exports. For the companies it is a chance to validate product market fit in the US and to establish local partner networks. For buyers the week offers a pre-vetted pipeline of European innovations that could address decarbonisation and resilience needs.
Further reading and resources
The Immersive Programme catalogue and supporting materials are available through the EIC Community platform. Readers can also consult the EIC Business Acceleration Services pages for details on the Global Business Expansion Programme, innovation procurement offerings and other international soft-landing missions.
If you have questions on the programme, contact the EIC Community Helpdesk and choose the event category named above. The EIC provides this information for knowledge sharing and it should not be taken as the formal position of the European Commission.