Business growth through innovation: EIC-backed start-ups and scale-ups expand ABB's energy and motion pipeline

On 25 and 26 June 2025 the European Innovation Council convened a curated group of ten EIC‑backed start‑ups from five countries at ABB’s Motion and Electrification headquarters in Bergamo, Italy. The two‑day Corporate Day concentrated on live pitching sessions and structured one‑to‑one meetings with senior ABB decision makers. The objective was to identify pilot opportunities, co‑development pathways and potential strategic investments across ABB’s priority areas including data centre technologies, motion efficiency and sustainable materials.

Event format, preparation and immediate outcomes

The activity was part of the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme and followed weeks of EIC coaching. Selected companies received mentoring, pitch rehearsals and business proposal reviews before travelling to Bergamo. During the Corporate Day each start‑up presented to ABB teams and then engaged in targeted technical and commercial conversations. ABB engineers and the visiting founders exchanged schematics, data points and manufacturing insights in sessions that, according to participants, compressed months of discovery into two days.

Technologies on show and why ABB was interested

What participants said

ABB representatives framed the day as a concentrated technical exchange. Mads Moeller, Head of Ventures at ABB Electrification, described how engineers and startups exchanged schematics, data points and manufacturing insights that normally take months to uncover and said the solutions presented could influence ABB’s internal strategic discussions.

Start‑up leaders emphasised the value of direct access to ABB decision makers. Timur Sirman, CEO of Magnotherm Solutions, noted this was their second EIC Corporate Partnership Programme experience and said ABB’s precise feedback had helped validate how their solid‑state magnetic chillers could enhance rack‑level cooling and refine product positioning. Josef Suess, CEO of Blinkin, said the Corporate Day clarified real‑world scenarios where Blinkin’s no‑code AI could simplify customer support and maintenance for ABB.

EIC Corporate Partnership Programme: scope, claims and context

The Corporate Day in Bergamo was organised under the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme. The EIC describes the programme as a curated route for EIC‑backed innovators to meet large corporates. The EIC states that since 2017 the programme has run around 80 initiatives with over 120 corporate partners and allowed more than 1,200 EIC‑funded startups and scaleups and 2,500 corporate representatives to participate, reporting significant business impacts, follow‑ups and deals.

Turning meetings into pilots: practical barriers and EIC support

Organisers promised post‑activity deal support. That support is important because turning interest into a live pilot or procurement contract is not automatic. Corporates must navigate procurement rules, safety and regulatory approval, integration with existing systems, supplier qualification and often significant engineering validation. For hardware and energy technologies these steps can be long and expensive. The EIC and participating corporates flagged follow‑ups and pilot creation as the immediate next phase.

Why these collaborations matter for the European ecosystem

From a policy and ecosystem perspective these curated corporate‑startup interactions are designed to accelerate technology transfer, create pilots that de‑risk deep tech and help scale solutions that contribute to industrial competitiveness and sustainability. For European corporates, the benefits are faster access to new technologies and alternative supplier pipelines. For startups, access to anchor customers, technical feedback and potential follow‑on investment can be transformative.

But success at scale requires follow‑through. Corporate Days are effective at screening and surfacing opportunities. The harder work is supporting the pilot to productisation, embedding new procurement pathways to buy from startups and measuring long‑term impacts. The EIC’s offer of deal‑making support recognises this gap but does not remove structural procurement challenges that vary across sectors and countries.

Quotes and closing observations

“Hosting the EIC‑backed start‑ups gave our teams instant visibility into cutting‑edge technologies that directly address ABB’s priority areas. Our engineers and the visiting startups exchanged schematics, data points and manufacturing insights that normally take months to uncover,” said Mads Moeller, Head of Ventures, ABB Electrification.

“This was our second experience with the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme. The first led to a successful collaboration with AB InBev. Today, the Corporate Day provided us with exceptional insights into ABB’s data centre cooling needs,” said Timur Sirman, CEO of Magnotherm Solutions.

“Participating in Corporate Day with ABB gave us direct insight into real‑world scenarios where our no‑code AI solutions can instantly simplify customer support and product maintenance processes,” said Josef Suess, CEO of Blinkin.

“We witnessed Europe’s start‑up talent present tangible solutions to ABB’s innovation focus areas on energy efficiency and product sustainability. The rigorous EIC selection and coaching ensured that every discussion focused on technical feasibility and business value. I left Bergamo confident that the conversations sparked here could soon mature into concrete pilots and long‑term partnerships,” said Manuel Mendigutía, Head of the Corporate Partnership Programme at the European Innovation Council.

What to watch next

Follow‑up indicators to judge the Corporate Day’s long term impact will include number and value of pilots launched, procurement contracts awarded to participating start‑ups, timeline from pilot to deployment and any strategic investments. These metrics will determine whether the event was a tactical matchmaking moment or a genuine step toward industrial adoption of deep tech across Europe.