EIC launches SPIN4EIC to help awardees sell into procurement markets

Brussels, February 9th 2024

Summary

›The European Innovation Council launched SPIN4EIC, a Strategic Innovation Procurement programme to help EIC awardees access public and private procurement markets.
›SPIN4EIC offers free services including Innovation Procurement Academies, tailored bid support, matchmaking events and buyer capacity building.
›The programme runs an online community split into buyer groups and five thematic groups to connect innovators with procurers.
›A public online launch event called Elevate & Connect was held on 22 February 2024 to present services and community features.
›SPIN4EIC is implemented under the EIC Business Acceleration Services and administered by EISMEA and partners, with data processed via EIC IT platforms.

SPIN4EIC: EIC’s procurement push to move more awardees into buyer markets

On 9 February 2024 the European Innovation Council announced SPIN4EIC, a Strategic Innovation Procurement programme designed to help EIC-funded innovators turn research and prototypes into procurement-ready solutions. The initiative aims to bridge the persistent gap between deep tech start-ups and the demand side in both public and private procurement markets in Europe and abroad.

What SPIN4EIC says it will do

SPIN4EIC positions itself as a practical, services-led programme. It offers training and hands-on support to EIC beneficiaries to prepare and submit bids for public and private tenders. It also targets procurers by offering assistance to design innovation procurement tenders and by creating channels for buyers to raise challenges and solicit solutions from EIC awardees.

Innovation Procurement Academies:Short, practical training courses offering procurement simulations, peer learning, and case studies to help start-ups and SMEs understand procurement rules and prepare competitive bids.

Tailored assistance to bidders:One-to-one support to identify and qualify procurement opportunities, prepare tender documentation, and navigate legal and contractual issues such as intellectual property.

Support to public buyers:Capacity building for public procurers to set up innovation procurement, conduct market consultations and design tenders that attract novel suppliers.

Community, themes and matchmaking

SPIN4EIC runs an active online community on the EIC Platform that groups participants by role and sector. There is a restricted group for public buyers and a separate group for private buyers. In addition there are five thematic groups intended to concentrate relevant opportunities and contacts in areas where EIC awardees are active.

Group	Focus	Purpose
Public Buyers	Local, regional and national authorities	Access capacity building, promote procurement challenges and discover EIC suppliers
Private Buyers	Corporates and industry buyers	Source innovative suppliers and join matchmaking
Thematic group 1	Agriculture, Food and Beverage	Sector specific matchmaking and opportunity alerts
Thematic group 2	Construction, Infrastructure and Manufacturing	Sector specific matchmaking and opportunity alerts
Thematic group 3	Digital Transformation	Sector specific matchmaking and opportunity alerts
Thematic group 4	Energy, Water, Environment, Sustainability and Mobility	Sector specific matchmaking and opportunity alerts
Thematic group 5	Health and Life Sciences	Sector specific matchmaking and opportunity alerts

Events and first launch

The programme held a public online launch event called Elevate & Connect on 22 February 2024 from 10:00 to 12:00 CET. The two hour event introduced the service offer, showcased the online community and described how EIC beneficiaries and buyers can participate. Registration for that event had been open until 20 February 2024.

Who should attend or join:The programme recommends EIC beneficiaries including Accelerator, Pathfinder and Transition awardees as primary beneficiaries. It also invites public procurers at local, regional and national levels as well as private corporate buyers interested in innovative solutions.

Access, costs and how to take part

SPIN4EIC offers free procurement assistance to EIC awardees and to public buyers. EIC beneficiaries can apply for hands-on support such as help identifying tenders or preparing bids. Public buyers can request free support for needs assessment, open market consultations and tender drafting. The community and many events are also free to join.

Open calls and continuous monitoring:SPIN4EIC operates rolling open calls for assistance to EIC innovators and to public buyers. It also monitors ongoing procurement opportunities like PPI, PCP and open market consultations and lists them for members.

Delivery, partners and governance

SPIN4EIC is delivered under the EIC Business Acceleration Services and implemented by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, known as EISMEA. The initiative sits inside the EIC Innovation Procurement Programme and works with ecosystem partners. EISMEA plays the agency role for the EIC and is the Commission executive agency that administers EIC programmes.

Relation to EIC Fund and the wider EIC ecosystem:SPIN4EIC is part of the EIC’s business support package which complements grant and investment instruments. The EIC Fund and other ecosystem actors such as national contact points, the Enterprise Europe Network and listed ecosystem partners are mentioned as potential collaborators for follow on services and investor outreach.

Data, platforms and practical notes

SPIN4EIC relies on the EIC IT platform and wider Commission services for community management and programme delivery. Users access services using EU Login credentials and personal data are processed under EU rules. The EIC programme pages and EISMEA notices set out data protection procedures, retention periods and the use of analytics tools. Where third party online tools are used for meetings or helpdesks there are separate privacy statements to consult.

Data retention and safeguards:EISMEA and the Commission indicate retention periods for different categories of data in related notices. Personal data are processed under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and protected by contractual and technical measures. Users should consult the EIC and EISMEA privacy and data protection pages for details and for how to exercise data subject rights.

What the programme claims about impact and evidence

SPIN4EIC positions procurement as a route to scale for EIC awardees and promises to create demand side connections, visibility and bid success. The EIC has since published a first impact report for SPIN4EIC in June 2025 that summarizes progress in its initial implementation year. The programme also publishes success stories and case studies that illustrate specific trajectories from piloting to procurement engagement.

A skeptical appraisal and practical hurdles

The concept is straightforward and addresses a recognised problem. Many innovative SMEs find public procurement procedures opaque and technically demanding. A dedicated support programme can lower barriers if it targets the right bottlenecks, such as early engagement with buyers, IP contracting, consortium building and compliance with procurement rules. However the actual impact depends on several factors beyond the programme’s direct control. These include the willingness and procurement capacity of public authorities, the structure of procurement rules in different Member States, risk aversion of large buyers, and the complexity of scaling demonstrators to production level.

Operational risks to watch:The programme may be constrained by limited buyer uptake, a mismatch between prototype readiness and buyer procurement cycles, and the uneven maturity of EIC awardees. The success stories are useful but not a substitute for robust outcome data such as numbers of contracts awarded to EIC firms, contract value, and repeat procurement by the same buyers.

How to follow up and next steps

EIC awardees and prospective public buyers should join the SPIN4EIC community via the EIC Platform, apply to open assistance calls if they need help, and sign up for Academies and matchmaking events. Public procurers outside the EU are offered options to collaborate with SPIN4EIC. Interested parties can also subscribe to the EIC Innovation Procurement Programme newsletter to receive updates.

Action	Who it is for	How to access
Join SPIN4EIC community	EIC beneficiaries, buyers	Register on the EIC Platform and join thematic or buyer groups
Apply for tailored assistance	EIC innovators or public buyers	Use the SPIN4EIC open calls via the EIC BAS helpdesk and apply pages
Attend Innovation Procurement Academies	EIC awardees	Apply when calls for academies are announced or subscribe to newsletter
Consult impact and guidance materials	All stakeholders	Download SPIN4EIC publications and the Impact Report from EIC pages

Contacts and where to learn more

Primary contact points are the SPIN4EIC pages on the EIC website and the EIC Community helpdesk. The Launch event pages and the SPIN4EIC programme page list calendar items and registration links. For data protection questions consult the EISMEA data protection notice and the EIC privacy statements.

If you represent an EIC beneficiary or a public procurer and you want hands-on support, use the EIC Community contact form and select SPIN4EIC as the category.