EIC at GITEX Europe 2025: trade‑fair diplomacy, ecosystem outreach and early signals to watch

Brussels, May 28th 2025

Summary

›The EIC led a 40‑company delegation to the first GITEX Europe in Berlin and ran a packed programme at its Pavilion.
›Activities blended investor and corporate matchmaking, policy messaging and gender‑inclusion initiatives.
›Claims of outsized impact were strong but near‑term evidence of concrete deals or procurements remains limited.
›Scaling Club founders highlighted deep tech scaling hurdles while SPIN4EIC pushed innovation procurement for climate.
›A pre‑strategy roundtable gathered inputs ahead of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy launch.
›The event showcased BAS as a platform that extends well beyond grants to coaching, trade fairs and corporate access.

EIC at GITEX Europe 2025: what happened and why it matters

From 21 to 23 May 2025 the European Innovation Council brought a 40‑company delegation to the inaugural GITEX Europe in Berlin. Organised under the EIC International Trade Fairs Programme 3.0 and the wider Business Acceleration Services, the mission showcased European innovators in AI and robotics, cleantech, medtech, cybersecurity and industry 4.0. GITEX Europe’s first edition reported more than 30,000 attendees from over 100 countries, 1,400 exhibitors and more than 750 startups. As a strategic partner, the EIC used the fair as an outreach platform to connect portfolio companies with corporates, investors and public buyers and to signal upcoming EU policy moves on scaling.

A trade‑fair strategy positioned as support beyond grants

The EIC framed its GITEX presence as part of a business‑oriented strategy that complements funding with services. Under the Business Acceleration Services umbrella, the trade‑fairs track linked exhibitors to coaching, investor outreach, corporate reverse pitches, the EIC Scaling Club and innovation procurement activities. This integrated approach also surfaced WomenTechEU and the European Parliament pilot project on the gender gap in investments.

EIC International Trade Fairs Programme 3.0:ITF 3.0 is a 2024‑2026 scheme that selects EIC‑backed startups and scaleups to exhibit at 12 major fairs across the EU, MENA and the US. Beyond booth space, companies receive pre‑departure briefings, tailored coaching, B2B matchmaking and post‑event follow‑up support. Sectors covered include biotech and pharma, health, cleantech and new or industrial technologies.

Reverse pitch:Unlike a traditional startup pitch to investors, a reverse pitch is when corporates or investors present their needs, partnership models and procurement or investment theses. The goal is to help startups quickly assess fit and initiate targeted follow‑ups.

Inside the EIC Pavilion

A curated group of 34 EIC‑backed companies exhibited at the EIC Pavilion with support from ITF 3.0 and the EIC Scaling Club, while additional EIC beneficiaries took part in main‑stage panels, reverse pitches and closed‑door meetings. The Pavilion opened with a ribbon‑cutting attended by Andreas Schwarz, Head of Cabinet to the Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, and EIC Board Members Yousef Yousef and Mali Baum. Schwarz argued the EIC has in four years become Europe’s largest early‑stage deep tech investor and tied the Pavilion to the forthcoming EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy. That “largest” claim is directionally consistent with the EIC’s status as one of Europe’s biggest deep tech backers, but it depends on what counts as early stage and which capital pools are compared. No independent benchmarking was presented on site.

GITEX Europe 2025	Reported figure	Notes
Attendees	30,000+	From 100+ countries
Exhibitors	1,400+	Including 750+ startups
EIC delegation	40 companies	34 on Pavilion plus additional participants from Scaling Club and innovation procurement tracks

Programming and themes around funding, AI, circularity and health

The Pavilion hosted presentations on EIC funding opportunities and the full BAS catalogue, along with thematic panels on AI, the circular economy, digital infrastructure and medtech. Experienced EIC coaches, programme leads and external stakeholders contributed. Throughout the fair, organisers ran pre‑arranged one‑to‑one meetings for selected EIC companies, and staged a sequence of corporate and investor reverse pitches to generate leads.

European Night as a networking anchor

Co‑organised with GITEX Europe, the European Night gathered more than 300 innovators, investors, corporates and policy figures. It was inaugurated by H.E. Alia Bint Abdulla Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, EIC Board Member Yousef Yousef and Trixie LohMirmand of the Dubai Trade Center. The format was positioned as relationship‑building rather than deal‑making.

Gender‑inclusive innovation focus

A dedicated panel titled Women. Tech. Capital. How the EIC is shaping a more inclusive innovation landscape in Europe? featured Kinga Stanisławska of European Women in VC, Dr. Gesa Miczaika of Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund and Teresa Hernandez Martin of EIT Manufacturing and WomenTechEU. Moderated by Marta Wysoczyńska of EIC EISMEA, the discussion combined policy recommendations with practical fundraising advice for women founders. In parallel, the EIC hosted a workshop under the European Parliament pilot project on the gender gap in investments, moderated by Mark Whittle of CSES Europe.

WomenTechEU and the gender gap project:WomenTechEU offers early‑stage support to women‑led deep tech startups under the European Innovation Ecosystems strand. The EP pilot project on Gender Gap in Investments, managed by EISMEA, is running local events across 10 countries and will deliver a harmonised data study in 2025 to quantify disparities and propose remedies. Both initiatives aim to address the persistent underrepresentation of women among funded founders and fund managers in Europe.

Corporate and investor engagement signals

The Pavilion hosted reverse pitches by Hyundai CRADLE, Leaps by Bayer, Oracle, Sony and Coinvest Capital. Separately, Andreas Schwarz convened a roundtable ahead of the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy launch with Alias Robotics, neuroClues, QuoIntelligence, REBLADE and investors to collect practitioner input. On GITEX main stages, EIC and portfolio voices weighed in on funding sentiment and green innovation: Yousef Yousef discussed cautious optimism in funding; EISMEA Director Stéphane Ouaki and Frank Kjerstein of REBLADE spoke about SME innovation and resilience; a greentech scaling panel moderated by Vassilis Tsanidis featured founders from LightnTec, Charge2C‑NewCap, RAIKU, LignEasy and Kraftblock.

Scaling deep tech at GITEX: the EIC Scaling Club session

On 22 May the EIC Scaling Club ran Powering Deep Tech Growth: Stories from the EIC Scaling Club, moderated by Nicolette Komitska. Speakers included Maud Vinet of Quobly, Thibaud Febvre of Vianova, Marco Riccardi of QuoIntelligence, Wendy Chin of Multiverse Computing and Thomas Koetting of Sekoia.io. The conversation focused on commercialisation bottlenecks, enterprise sales, talent and partnership pathways for deep tech in Europe. The session aligned with the Club’s aim to convene 120+ high‑growth deep tech scale‑ups with investors, corporates, mentors and public agencies for targeted growth support.

EIC Scaling Club:A curated community funded by the EIC that brings selected European deep tech scale‑ups into a network with about 400 ecosystem players. It offers peer exchange, investor and partner access, and mentoring. The Club markets an ambition to accelerate company value growth, but impact attribution versus market cycles should be interpreted with care.

Procurement for climate: SPIN4EIC with the First Movers Coalition

On 21 May, the EIC Innovation Procurement Programme powered by SPIN4EIC partnered with the World Economic Forum’s First Movers Coalition to highlight decarbonisation innovations to industrial buyers. Five EIC innovators presented: André Mão de Ferro of C2C NewCap, Mariia Shabalina of eChemicles, Christian Kissling of Kraftblock, Julie Neuville of Materrup and Patrick Forese of MetisMotion. The panel brought perspectives from EIC Board Member and LG Sonic CEO Yousef Yousef, the World Economic Forum’s Pelayo Gonzalez‑Escalada Mena, Siemens Gamesa’s Maximilian Schnippering and SLB’s Raphael Guerithault. The emphasis was on catalysing demand for low‑carbon solutions through procurement, but no specific buyer commitments were announced on stage.

Innovation procurement:Public and large private buyers can steer markets by procuring solutions that are new to the market. Mechanisms include Pre‑Commercial Procurement for R&D services and Public Procurement of Innovative solutions for near‑market deployments. SPIN4EIC offers EIC companies training, tender assistance and matchmaking with European and global buyers, while also helping public buyers scope and run innovation tenders. The First Movers Coalition aggregates demand from large buyers willing to commit to cleaner products in hard‑to‑abate sectors.

Companies in the spotlight and the tech under the hood

Several Scaling Club companies on stage illustrate the breadth of EU deep tech bets. Quobly is building silicon spin‑qubit quantum processors on FD‑SOI, aiming to leverage existing semiconductor fabrication to scale. Vianova provides AI‑driven spatial intelligence to city authorities and mobility operators to manage road safety, curb space and logistics. Multiverse Computing pushes AI model compression and optimisation to cut costs and energy use for enterprise AI. Sekoia.io and QuoIntelligence address security operations and tailored threat intelligence. These are credible European innovators, although commercial traction still turns on enterprise adoption cycles and capital intensity.

FD‑SOI and silicon spin qubits:Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator is a mature semiconductor substrate technology valued for low power and good control of transistor behavior. Silicon spin qubits encode quantum information in the spin state of single electrons in silicon. The value proposition is compatibility with established CMOS lines and potential cost per qubit advantages. Key risks remain around error rates, uniformity at scale and control electronics integration.

AI model compression:Compression reduces model size and compute requirements through techniques like pruning, quantisation, distillation and low‑rank factorisation. The goal is to preserve accuracy while cutting inference cost and energy draw. Vendors promise large savings, but results vary by workload and hardware stack and must be validated in production constraints.

Spatial intelligence for mobility:Platforms ingest multimodal transport and IoT data, apply analytics and AI to derive insights on flows, safety risks and curb use, and expose tools for cities, fleet operators and insurers. The challenge is harmonising fragmented data sources and turning insights into enforceable policy levers and measurable outcomes.

What was not evidenced on site

The programme was dense and well‑attended, but near‑term outcomes were not quantified. There were no public deal counts, signed procurement commitments or investment totals disclosed from GITEX Europe itself. The delegation figures varied across materials, with 34 exhibitors at the Pavilion yet 40 EIC companies cited across the mission, likely due to different inclusion categories. As with most trade‑fair missions, this was a top‑of‑funnel exercise. The test will be conversion into pilots, procurements, revenues and follow‑on capital over the next two to four quarters. That conversion is not trivial in Europe’s fragmented public procurement systems and risk‑averse corporate buying cycles.

Claim or signal	Stated basis	Evidence provided at event	What to watch next
EIC is Europe’s largest early‑stage deep tech investor	Remarks by Andreas Schwarz	No benchmarking shared in Berlin	Independent comparisons versus national funds and corporate CVCs and capital actually deployed per stage
Trade‑fair presence delivers scale for startups	EIC BAS positioning and past BAS stats	Matchmaking and sessions ran as planned	Post‑event conversion rates to pilots, contracts and co‑investment by Q1–Q2 2026
Gender‑inclusive innovation push	Panel and EP pilot workshop	Stakeholder engagement was visible	Pilot study publication in Nov 2025 and any policy or funding adjustments that follow
Procurement to drive decarbonisation	SPIN4EIC x First Movers Coalition session	Strong buyer representation on panel	Named buyer‑supplier pilots launched within 6–12 months and tender volumes influenced

How this aligns with the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy

The Berlin roundtable with founders and investors fed into the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy preparation. While details were not disclosed at GITEX, expectations in the ecosystem focus on cross‑border listing reforms, talent mobility, public procurement for innovation, pan‑EU fund structures and secondary markets for private tech shares. Strategy scope is one thing. Execution depends on member state uptake and on whether procurement and regulatory levers actually lower time‑to‑revenue for deep tech. The EIC’s trade‑fair diplomacy helps with visibility, but policy and market design will decide scaling outcomes.

Context on the EIC Business Acceleration Services footprint

Since 2021 the BAS reports more than 20,000 one‑to‑one meetings between EIC awardees and corporates, procurers and investors, 595 deals, about €350 million raised through investor outreach and €1.2 billion raised by Scaling Club members since joining. Reported outputs from trade fairs since 2024 include €42 million turnover, alongside innovation procurement pilots supported. These are portfolio‑level indicators rather than event‑specific results and should be interpreted with the usual caveats on attribution and reporting lags.

Key dates at GITEX Europe 2025	Activity	Participants or speakers
21 May	SPIN4EIC x First Movers Coalition session	C2C NewCap, eChemicles, Kraftblock, Materrup, MetisMotion; Yousef Yousef, Pelayo Gonzalez‑Escalada Mena, Maximilian Schnippering, Raphael Guerithault
21 May	Pavilion opening	Andreas Schwarz, Yousef Yousef, Mali Baum
21–23 May	Reverse pitches and one‑to‑one meetings	Hyundai CRADLE, Leaps by Bayer, Oracle, Sony, Coinvest Capital and EIC‑backed firms
22 May	EIC Scaling Club session	Quobly, Vianova, QuoIntelligence, Multiverse Computing, Sekoia.io
All days	Gender inclusion panel and EP pilot workshop	Kinga Stanisławska, Gesa Miczaika, Teresa Hernandez Martin; moderator Marta Wysoczyńska; workshop moderator Mark Whittle

Where to engage next

EIC‑backed companies can monitor ITF 3.0 calls and apply via the EIC Community. Deep tech scale‑ups can explore the EIC Scaling Club. Innovators and public buyers interested in procurement can access SPIN4EIC training and assistance. The BAS newsletter and the EIC calendar list upcoming fairs and corporate days, including CES, MWC, GITEX Africa, BIO and the next GITEX Europe edition in 2026.