EIC brings 18 decarbonisation start-ups to All4Zero in Madrid: curated deals now face the pilot test

Brussels, April 30th 2026

Summary

›Eighteen EIC-backed start-ups pitched industrial decarbonisation and circularity solutions to Spain’s All4Zero hub in Madrid on 28–29 April 2026.
›The programme targeted four challenges: circular waste recovery, maritime decarbonisation, PFAS removal in industrial water, and innovative heat recovery.
›All4Zero corporates held one-to-one meetings to discuss integration and pilots, with six months of EIC follow-up support promised.
›Participating corporates included Enagás, Holcim, Iberia, Repsol, Exolum, Sacyr and others from All4Zero’s network.
›The EIC framed the event as part of its Corporate Partnership Programme, which claims hundreds of deals since 2017, though concrete pilot outcomes from Madrid will only be clear over the next six months.

Inside Madrid’s EIC–All4Zero Multi-Corporate Day

On 28–29 April 2026, the European Innovation Council convened 18 EIC-backed start-ups and SMEs from nine countries in Madrid for in-person pitching and structured one-to-one meetings with All4Zero, Spain’s multi-sector hub for industrial decarbonisation and circular economy. Companies were pre-selected by All4Zero member corporations and coached by the EIC to align proposals with defined industrial needs. The goal was clear: move beyond scouting into the mechanics of integration, pilots and partnerships.

Who was in the room and why it matters

All4Zero participants included senior innovation and technical representatives such as Mariano García, Vice President of All4Zero and Sustainability Director at Holcim, Pedro Prendes of ArcelorMittal, Martín Beitia and Marta de Damalsases of Iberia, Paula Sanz of Repsol, and Emilio Martínez of Enagás. The EIC was represented by Board Member Ana Casaca and Corporate Partnership Programme Coordinator Manuel Mendigutía, underscoring the Commission’s push to translate deep-tech R&D into industrial deployments. The presence of heavy-industry incumbents matters because most decarbonisation gains in Europe must occur in hard-to-abate sectors where retrofit risk, safety certification and OPEX certainty determine what gets piloted and purchased.

Four challenges setting the agenda

Discussions targeted four corporate-defined innovation areas: circularity of materials and waste with a focus on aviation; low-carbon molecules for maritime transport and port infrastructure; PFAS reduction in industrial wastewater; and high-efficiency heat recovery for energy-intensive processes. This framing maps closely to EU regulatory and market drivers.

Circularity in aviation and the EU fuel mandate:ReFuelEU Aviation sets a rising mandate for sustainable aviation fuel from 2025 to 2050. While SAF is the headline, airlines and caterers also face pressure to cut single-use plastics and improve cabin and ground waste sorting. Solutions that enable durable, microplastic-free materials and high-accuracy AI sorting directly support compliance and cost control.

Maritime decarbonisation context:FuelEU Maritime requires ships to cut the greenhouse gas intensity of energy used, starting mid-decade and steepening to 2050. Ports are preparing for shore power and trials with eLNG, hydrogen derivatives and ammonia. Modular fuel cells, eMethane and on-site hydrogen generation all target this transition but face bunkering, safety and certification hurdles.

PFAS and compliance risk:Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are persistent “forever chemicals”. An EU study in January 2026 estimated PFAS pollution could cost around €440 billion by 2050. Industrial buyers are looking for end-of-pipe and process-integrated solutions to meet tightening discharge thresholds, with zero liquid discharge systems and selective separation gaining attention.

Waste heat and process electrification:EU industry consumes a large share of final energy as heat. Recovering waste heat and electrifying high-temperature processes with thermal storage and advanced heat pumps can cut fuel use and enable flexible demand. Integration depends on temperature levels, intermittency, footprint and retrofit economics at each site.

How the EIC structured the process

The Madrid event was delivered under the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme. The EIC coached companies on use cases and proposals. Meetings were designed to move quickly into technical integration, operational constraints and deployment scenarios. According to the EIC, similar activities since 2017 have facilitated thousands of one-to-one meetings and led to more than a hundred business deals across Europe. As always with such figures, definitions of “deal” vary, and only pilots that survive procurement, permitting and budget cycles will show durable impact.

What the organisers and founders said

Ana Casaca, EIC Board Member and Global Director of Innovation at GALP, argued the model works because corporations set challenges, select start-ups and engage in the coaching process, and because support continues after the event with targeted dealmaking. Mariano García of Holcim said the joint selection process delivered companies at the right stage for real-world testing and that All4Zero aims to turn discussions into proof-of-concept trials. Founders echoed the value of direct access: Sebastian Sipp of STOFF2 highlighted actionable feedback on integration and deployment, while ecop Technologies’ Elaheh Babaei said preparation made every conversation productive and clarified fit for their rotation heat pump. The litmus test will be pilots launched and lessons learned over the next six months.

The technology mix presented in Madrid

The 18 EIC-backed companies ranged from thermal storage and advanced heat pumps to waste AI sorting, hydrogen systems, lignin recovery and zero liquid discharge. They align with All4Zero’s challenge framing and with decarbonisation bottlenecks faced by steel, cement, aviation, energy, refining and water management.

Company	Country	Core proposition	Primary relevance
AURELIA TURBINES	Finland	High-efficiency micro gas turbines using sustainable fuels including hydrogen	Distributed heat and power for sites seeking low-lifecycle-cost retrofits
BRENMILLER ENERGY	Spain	Crushed-rock thermal energy storage for on-demand process heat up to 500 °C	Electrification of process heat and waste heat use
eCHEMICLES	Hungary	Low-temperature CO2 electrolysis to carbon monoxide using renewable electricity	Power-to-chemicals feedstock for fuels and synthesis
ECOP TECHNOLOGIES	Austria	Rotation heat pump based on reverse Joule cycle using noble gas refrigerant, up to 200 °C	Industrial waste heat recovery and heat electrification
EH GROUP ENGINEERING	Switzerland	Modular containerised hydrogen fuel-cell power systems, scalable to multi-MW	Maritime and port power, resilient on-site power
ELCOGEN	Finland	Solid oxide technology for low-energy hydrogen production	Power-to-X with reduced electricity demand
ELECTROCHAEA	Germany	Biocatalytic methanation producing eMethane from hydrogen and CO2	Drop-in renewable gas and eLNG for maritime
H2ONSITE	Spain	Palladium-alloy membrane reactor for hydrogen production, separation and ammonia cracking	Decentralised H2 logistics and industrial decarbonisation
HYDROVOLTA	Belgium	Electrodialysis with ultrasound for high-recovery water and resource recovery	Industrial wastewater treatment and ZLD
KRAFTBLOCK	Germany	Thermal energy storage using upcycled steel slag, up to 1,000 °C process heat and 1,300 °C waste heat	Long-duration heat storage and waste heat recovery
LIGNEASY	Finland	Mechanical process to recover lignin at scale from kraft pulp mills	Low-carbon feedstock for marine fuels, SAF and battery hard carbon
MITIS	Belgium	High-speed turbomachinery including oil-free micro gas turbines and high-temp Turbo-Brayton heat pump	Off-gas-to-energy and heat pumps at ≥300 °C
POWERUP FUEL CELLS	Estonia	Portable hydrogen fuel cell generators as zero-emission diesel replacements	Maritime auxiliary and backup power
RECYCLEYE	United Kingdom	AI-powered automated waste sorting with deep learning and robotics	Circularity through higher-purity material recovery
STOFF2	Germany	Zinc-based redox electrolyser for lower-cost hydrogen with inherent energy storage	Stable baseload H2 supply for e-fuels and industry
SULAPAC	Finland	100% biobased, microplastic-free reusable material with ceramic-like properties	Durable alternatives to single-use tableware and packaging in transport
WATER CHALLENGE	Spain	Adiabatic sonic evaporation crystallisation achieving 100% ZLD at ~20 kWh/m³	PFAS-laden and complex industrial wastewater treatment
XFUEL	Spain	Refining hydrocarbon waste from shipping into low-carbon drop-in marine fuels	Lifecycle GHG cuts in marine fuels at cost parity claims

Rotation heat pumps and high-temperature lifts:Industrial heat pumps replace or augment fossil-fired boilers by upgrading waste heat. Rotation heat pumps based on the reverse Joule cycle use turbomachinery to compress a working gas and can achieve temperature lifts up to 100 K and outputs up to roughly 200 °C, a range relevant for food, paper and chemicals. Integration hinges on source temperatures, sink needs, grid tariffs and space.

Thermal energy storage for heat-intensive processes:Solid media heat batteries decouple variable renewables from industrial load. Systems such as crushed-rock or slag-based storage charge electrically when power is cheap and discharge as steam, hot air or oil between roughly 50 °C and 1,000 °C. Use cases include load shifting, waste heat capture and backup heat supply. Economics depend on cycling frequency, electricity price spreads and capex per kWhth.

Power-to-X and solid oxide electrolysis:Power-to-X converts electricity into hydrogen and downstream e-fuels. Solid oxide electrolysers operate at high temperature where thermodynamics reduce electrical energy demand per kilogram of hydrogen compared to low-temperature electrolyzers, at the expense of materials complexity and thermal management. Co-location with waste heat sources improves efficiency.

CO2-to-CO electrolysis:Low-temperature electrolysis that reduces CO2 to CO provides a syngas building block for fuels and chemicals. It aims to replace fossil CO while valorising captured CO2. Key questions for buyers include current density, selectivity, stack life, catalyst cost and electricity-to-product economics at industrial scale.

Fuel cells and port decarbonisation:Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity from hydrogen with water and heat as byproducts. Containerised systems are being pitched for shore power, microgrids and maritime auxiliary loads. Maritime integration must navigate safety standards, bunkering logistics and total cost versus diesel gensets under carbon pricing.

Electrodialysis with ultrasound for water recovery:Electrodialysis uses electrical potential to move ions through selective membranes. Integrating ultrasound aims to minimise fouling, lower chemical cleaning and reach high recovery even with challenging brines. Energy use is often lower than high-pressure reverse osmosis for certain salinity ranges, but performance depends on feed chemistry and pre-treatment.

Adiabatic sonic evaporation crystallisation for ZLD:Zero liquid discharge processes concentrate and crystallise dissolved solids to recover clean water and dry solids. Adiabatic sonic systems claim energy use down to around 20 kWh per cubic metre depending on feed. Buyers will scrutinise specific energy under real feed conditions, maintenance demands and byproduct handling.

Lignin recovery from kraft pulp mills:Kraft mills typically burn lignin for process heat. Mechanical separation at scale aims to unlock lignin as a low-carbon feedstock for biofuels, SAF or battery hard carbon. The opportunity in Europe is significant given the volumes incinerated, but conversion pathways and offtake markets remain developing.

AI sorting in waste streams:Computer vision and robotics can identify materials and objects beyond traditional near-infrared sensors. Plants use AI to increase purity and recover more value from mixed waste, supporting circularity targets. Reliability in harsh plant conditions, maintenance and integration with legacy conveyors determine ROI.

Value propositions on both sides, with caveats

For All4Zero corporates

The organisers emphasised that alignment established during preparation helped meetings focus on integration, constraints and deployment scenarios, compressing months of scouting into hours. For firms like Enagás, Holcim, Iberia, Repsol, Exolum, Sacyr and others, the event provided a curated pipeline of pre-vetted technologies mapped to declared decarbonisation priorities. The next bottlenecks are procurement, site access and total cost arguments robust enough to unlock pilot budgets.

For EIC-backed start-ups

Founders gained feedback on compatibility with existing infrastructure, regulatory requirements and scalability across steel, cement, aviation, energy refining and water. These insights can refine roadmaps and sharpen value propositions. Post-event, the EIC says it will provide dedicated support to convert proposals into pilots and commercial agreements, with progress tracked over six months. That timeline is ambitious for heavy industry and should be read as a target rather than a guarantee.

Follow-up, metrics and what to watch

Beyond Madrid, the EIC will continue supporting both sides with matchmaking and dealmaking for six months. The EIC’s Business Acceleration Services point to +20,000 one-to-one meetings and hundreds of deals since 2021 across programmes. Such headline numbers signal reach but not depth. The relevant indicators for this cohort will be pilots launched, scale and duration, conversion to multi-site deployments, and measurable emissions or cost outcomes. Buyers in sensitive domains such as ports, refineries and wastewater will also weigh safety, permitting timelines and supply-chain resilience.

Timeline	Activity	Notes
April 28–29, 2026	EIC–All4Zero Multi-Corporate Day in Madrid	Pitches and one-to-one meetings
May–October 2026	EIC follow-up support	Targeted to scope pilots and agreements
By end 2026	First pilots	Success depends on procurement, safety and site readiness

Organisations behind the event

About All4Zero

All4Zero is a Spanish industrial innovation hub established by ArcelorMittal, Holcim, Iberia and Repsol. Its network includes more than ten companies such as Enagás, Exolum, Técnicas Reunidas, Sacyr and Terresis, plus research institutes. The hub scouts, tests and validates technologies through pilots and proofs of concept conducted in real industrial environments, offering a direct pathway to adoption for solutions that clear safety, operability and ROI hurdles.

About the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme

The Programme curates matchmaking between EIC-backed start-ups and large corporations through single- and multi-corporate days and follow-on support. From 2017 to 2025 it organised 91 such days involving over 100 corporate partners and reports more than a hundred successful business deals. It complements investor outreach, trade fairs and coaching under the EIC’s Business Acceleration Services. As always with public programme metrics, stakeholders should assess not only deal counts but the persistence and scale of deployments.

Practical notes and discrepancies

The event communication refers to 18 participating EIC companies, but later labels the roster as 20 despite listing 18. Names of participating corporations vary between sections, with Terresis appearing alongside Técnicas Reunidas elsewhere. These are minor inconsistencies that do not affect the substance but are worth noting for records.