EIC asks awardees to review Business Acceleration Services and Community Platform
- ›The European Innovation Council has launched a short survey to collect feedback on its Business Acceleration Services and Community Platform.
- ›The questionnaire takes about 10 minutes and is open to EIC awardees and affiliated beneficiaries.
- ›Responses are requested by 12 April 2024 and will be used to adapt and improve EIC support services.
- ›The announcement underscores EIC’s role beyond funding but does not represent an official position of the European Commission.
Your opinion matters: Help improve EIC Business Acceleration Services and the Community Platform
The European Innovation Council says it wants to go beyond grant and equity financing by offering Business Acceleration Services and an online Community Platform to support EIC awardees throughout the innovation cycle. To better align those services with user needs the EIC has opened a short survey to gather experiences from beneficiaries and other users.
Why the survey matters
The stated aim of the questionnaire is to collect practical feedback on how EIC Business Acceleration Services and the Community Platform are used and where they fall short. The EIC frames the exercise as a way to ensure its non-financial support matches real world needs of deep tech start-ups, scale-ups and research teams. Participation is voluntary and the survey is intentionally brief to encourage higher response rates.
What the Business Acceleration Services and Community Platform are intended to deliver
EIC Business Acceleration Services are positioned as complementary to funding. They are meant to help EIC-backed innovators secure contracts, increase relevant contacts and improve skills needed for scaling. The Community Platform is promoted as a single access point for open calls, partner offers, events and a directory of services and partners.
| Pillar | Main activities | Examples and metrics published by EIC |
| Contracts | Matchmaking with corporates and procurers, trade fair support, innovation procurement assistance | +20,000 one-on-one meetings since 2021, 595 reported deals, and examples of procurement support and pilot projects as reported on EIC channels |
| Contacts | Ecosystem platform, partner calls, corporate partnership days and community groups | An online community with thousands of members and multiple partner-led activities and events |
| Skills | Coaching, investor readiness, leadership programmes, market access courses | Thousands of awardees coached and specific programmes such as the Women Leadership Programme and Tech to Market activities |
Context and caveats
EU innovation support has expanded beyond grants in recent years as policymakers try to close the gap between research outcomes and market adoption. Business acceleration offers practical routes to commercialisation but its effectiveness depends on execution, relevance of partners and follow through by participating companies. Surveys like this one can inform improvements but they are an early step in a longer governance and implementation process. Users should be realistic about what change a single feedback exercise can produce and watch for follow up from EISMEA or the EIC about concrete reforms.
How to take part
EIC awardees and eligible users can access the survey from the EIC Community site. Completion is designed to be quick and accessible. If you have specific, concrete suggestions about service gaps, partner quality or the Community Platform experience include brief examples in your responses to increase the likelihood that feedback can be translated into actionable improvements.
If you are an EIC awardee or stakeholder, taking 10 minutes to respond is a low-cost way to register your experience and preferences. That said bear in mind that service improvement is a longer process that requires monitoring, iterative changes and sustained engagement from beneficiaries and partners.
Disclaimer: This text is intended to help readers understand the survey and the EIC’s service offer. It does not represent the official view of the European Commission or any other organisation.