EIC Corporate Day with Holcim: Startups pitch decarbonisation of buildings as pilots and deals follow

Brussels, November 29th 2024

Summary

›The European Innovation Council and Holcim staged a Corporate Day in Lyon on 27–28 November 2024 to connect EIC-backed scaleups with Holcim decision makers.
›Ten preselected EIC-backed scaleups completed a three month preparation programme and pitched solutions across green operation, circular construction and low-carbon materials.
›The event built on an ongoing EIC–Holcim partnership that began in 2021 and has already produced pilots, contracts and an equity stake in at least one startup.
›Notable follow-ups include earlier success with Nanolike, and Materrup which has scaled production and raised over €26 million with participation from the EIC Fund.
›The Corporate Partnership Programme reports broad reach since 2017 but corporate-startup collaboration still faces familiar scaling and procurement bottlenecks.

EIC Corporate Day with Holcim: connecting deep tech startups to a construction giant

On 27 and 28 November 2024 the European Innovation Council and Holcim held a two day Corporate Day at Holcim’s Innovation Center in Lyon, France. The event formed part of the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme and brought together ten EIC-backed scaleups that had completed a three month, tailor made preparation track. The companies pitched technology and business solutions aimed at decarbonising buildings and construction processes.

Format and focus: pitching, one-to-ones and dealmaking

The format combined public pitching sessions focused on priority challenges named by Holcim and scheduled one-to-one meetings between entrepreneurs and Holcim senior decision makers. Holcim framed the problem areas as green operation, building better with less, circular construction and sustainable buildings. The EIC provided scouting, selection and pre event coaching over three months to prepare teams for corporate engagement.

Green operation:Measures that reduce operational energy consumption and emissions on construction sites and in building lifecycle management. This can include digital monitoring, energy optimisation and low carbon logistics.

Circular construction:Design and material flows that keep resources in use for longer. In practice this means higher recycled-content products, industrial symbiosis and processes that enable reuse rather than downcycling.

Who pitched: the 10 selected EIC-backed companies

Holcim selected ten ventures from the EIC portfolio representing six countries and a range of technology readiness levels. The EIC emphasised diversity of approaches from software driven operational tools to materials science and clean fuels.

Company	Country	Core focus
ALTAROAD	France	Road infrastructure monitoring
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY INNOVATIONS SL	Spain	Alternative energy solutions
ECOAT	France	Coating technologies
HIBOO SYSTEMS SAS	France	Equipment data platform and fleet efficiency
MATERRUP	France	Low-carbon cement and clinker alternatives
PLENESYS	France	Plasma-based hydrogen and materials processing
POLYLABS SIA	Latvia	Polymer and composite technologies
POWERUP FUEL CELLS OU	Estonia	Hydrogen fuel cell power systems
SVENSKA AEROGEL AB	Sweden	High-performance insulation materials
VIDEO SYSTEMS SRL	Italy	Visual inspection and analytics

Two illustrative case studies

The Corporate Day did not invent new outcomes on the spot. It builds on a longer running collaboration between Holcim and the EIC that began in 2021 and already shows how curated corporate engagement can turn into pilots, contracts and investment.

Nanolike: from pitch to pilot to equity stake

Nanolike, a Toulouse based company that makes connected sensors for monitoring fill levels in containers and silos, participated in Holcim’s first EIC Corporate Day in 2021 after receiving EIC support. Holcim ran a pilot with Nanolike, proceeded to commercial contracts across several subsidiaries, and in 2023 Holcim acquired a stake in the startup. The example underlines the trajectory corporates can offer from customer pilots to commercial rollout and deeper financial ties.

Materrup: scaling low carbon cement with EIC backing

Materrup is an industrial startup focused on low carbon cement. After securing EIC Accelerator support the company opened a new plant in south west France. In June 2024 Materrup completed a fundraising round of more than €26 million with participation from the EIC Fund among other investors. The Holcim Corporate Day gave Materrup further exposure to a large materials buyer and potential partner network.

Low-carbon cement explained:Cement production is carbon intensive because of both fuel combustion and the calcination reaction that releases CO2 when limestone is heated. Low-carbon cement approaches target reduced clinker content, alternative binders, carbon capture or novel chemistries that lower process emissions. Any material solution must also satisfy strength, durability and regulatory norms for construction.

Why corporates and the EIC partner on these events

Holcim described the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme as a valuable sourcing and scouting channel. Edelio Bermejo, Head of Global Innovation and R&D at Holcim, said the programme’s pre selection lets the company engage with promising startups and scaleups across Europe and positions the activity as part of Holcim’s sustainability innovation strategy. From the EIC side the Corporate Day is a route for its beneficiaries to access customers, pilots, and potential investment.

EIC Accelerator and EIC Fund:The EIC Accelerator is a flagship support strand providing grants and equity to high risk, high potential startups. The EIC Fund is the co investment vehicle that can participate in scaling rounds. Being an EIC beneficiary often increases visibility with corporate partners and co investors.

Programme scale and track record cited by organisers

The EIC Corporate Partnership Programme dates to 2017. The EIC materials for this event cite 72 initiatives run to date and more than 120 corporate partners including names such as ABB, Airbus, BMW, CaixaBank, CommerzBank, Enel, Ferrovial, L’Oreal, Medtronic, Neste, Roche, Saint Gobain, Shell, Siemens Energy, Solvay and Telefonica. The EIC also reports that over 1,200 EIC funded startups and scaleups and more than 2,500 corporate representatives have taken part in its corporate activities, and participants report follow ups, pilots and business deals.

Those headline figures show reach but they do not, on their own, prove sustained industrial deployment. Corporate Days are an entry point that often needs months or years of follow up work to become strategically scaled rollouts.

Practical hurdles that remain

Corporate engagement can accelerate pilot opportunities. Yet the construction materials sector is hard to change at scale. Cement and concrete producers operate asset heavy plants with long investment cycles. New materials must pass engineering, regulatory and procurement hurdles. Startups frequently report that pilot projects do not always lead to procurement at scale. The path from demonstration to market requires technical validation, supply chain adaptation and commercial alignment.

Corporate venturing and procurement realities:Corporates can be buyers, customers and investors. Each role brings different timelines and incentives. Pilots may move quickly but procurement, long term supply and standards compliance take longer. Startups should expect phased engagement that moves from proof of concept to controlled rollouts before full integration.

What this means for Europe’s innovation ecosystem

The EIC Corporate Day model is an established mechanism in Europe for connecting startups to strategic industrial buyers. It fits within a broader European push to speed deep tech commercialisation through blended public and private support. The added value is not only in potential contracts and investment but in market intelligence and product refinement driven by corporate feedback.

At the same time policymakers and programme managers should keep monitoring outcomes beyond event satisfaction. The questions for public actors include whether these partnerships help startups reach commercial scale in Europe, whether intellectual property and governance arrangements remain fair, and whether public support leads to measurable emissions reductions.

Next steps and how startups should engage

For the startups involved the immediate agenda after the Corporate Day is to pursue the one to one meetings and follow up on pilot proposals. For corporates, the task is to translate short term pilots into procurement roadmaps if technical and commercial validation holds. The EIC continues to run calls and corporate matchmaking opportunities and is seeking more large corporations to join the programme.

If you are a startup interested in corporate days:Prepare clear, concise use cases. Explain technical readiness, cost and performance data and identify what you need from the corporate partner. Expect iterative pilots and request clear criteria for success and timelines to avoid misaligned expectations.

Conclusions

The EIC Corporate Day with Holcim is a pragmatic example of how public innovation programmes and large industrial players can collaborate. The recorded successes such as Nanolike and Materrup show the potential of that approach. Yet the bigger test remains scaling proven pilots into widespread market adoption across a sector where technical validation, standards and procurement cycles are lengthy. Events are necessary but not sufficient. Long term impact will depend on follow through on procurement, investment and regulatory alignment.

Further information

More about the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme is available through the EIC Business Acceleration Services. Corporates interested in joining the programme are invited to apply and sign the programme declaration of intent. Startups looking for introductions can engage via the EIC Community and its open calls.