EIC pitching session at Vaasa Energy Week spotlights heat pumps, turbines and industrial compressors

Brussels, April 18th 2025

Summary

›An EIC Innovation Procurement pitching session took place at Vaasa City Hall on 19 March 2025 under the SPIN4EIC initiative.
›Four EIC-backed innovators pitched energy technologies spanning thermoacoustic heat engines, high speed microturbines, industrial compressor systems and high temperature heat pumps.
›The session aimed to connect SMEs with public buyers and procurers including the City of Vaasa and EPV Energy Oy to explore pilots and procurement routes.
›Organisers emphasised matchmaking, market intelligence and procurement assistance, while the practical challenge remains moving pilots to procurement and scale.

EIC pitching session at Vaasa Energy Week brings innovators and buyers together

Innovation and procurement met on 19 March 2025 at Vaasa City Hall when the European Innovation Council Innovation Procurement Programme, via the SPIN4EIC initiative, staged a pitching session during Vaasa Energy Week. EIC beneficiaries from across Europe presented energy and district heating solutions to an audience that included municipal procurers and industry buyers. The event sought practical matches between public needs and early commercial technologies, while promoting public procurement as a route to de-risk and scale promising solutions.

Event, partners and purpose

The session was organised through a collaboration between SPIN4EIC and the City of Vaasa. Vaasa is an established hub for clean energy and district heating research and industry in Finland. The pitching forum was positioned as a platform for EIC-backed SMEs and start-ups to make direct contact with potential customers, investors and partners and to explore pilots or procurement arrangements.

SPIN4EIC and the EIC Business Acceleration Services:SPIN4EIC is an initiative powered by the EIC Business Acceleration Services that focuses on strategic innovation procurement. Its services include free assistance to innovators preparing to bid for procurement, matchmaking and themed community groups. The initiative aims to increase SMEs’ visibility with public buyers and to support public procurers in designing procurement processes that can adopt novel solutions.

Who presented and what they pitched

Four EIC beneficiaries presented technologies described by organisers as potentially transformative for heating, power and industrial energy efficiency. The session was framed as an opportunity to identify joint projects, pilots and procurement routes rather than a guarantee of immediate contracts.

Company	EIC Support Instrument	Proposed solution	Main contact
BlueHeart Energy	EIC Accelerator	Thermoacoustic electrical engine that powers heat pumps without conventional refrigerants or mechanical compressors	Roel Koetzier – LinkedIn
Mitis	SME Instrument Phase 2	High speed turbomachinery systems for decentralised power generation and microturbines	Michel Delanaye – LinkedIn
Otechos	EIC Accelerator	Industrial engineering and commercialization for energy and machinery sectors including novel compressor technologies	Tallak Bakken – LinkedIn
ToCircle	SME Instrument Phase 2	High temperature heat pumps and mechanical vapor recompression systems built around rotating machinery	Nikolai Slettebø – LinkedIn

Voices from the session

Speakers highlighted the value of being present at a regional energy week in a city with a strong clean tech ecosystem. BlueHeart’s business developer Roel Koetzier said EIC support enabled their participation and that they were seeking joint projects with the City of Vaasa and local energy stakeholders. City of Vaasa representatives framed the event as aligned with the city’s green technology focus and said SPIN4EIC had provided useful market intelligence and contacts. An EISMEA programme manager noted that SPIN4EIC increases SME visibility and stressed the role of SMEs in developing advanced energy materials and solutions.

Technical concepts explained

Thermoacoustic engine:Thermoacoustic devices use sound waves and gas dynamics to convert heat to mechanical power or to pump heat. Put simply, a resonator and a working gas create pressure oscillations when subjected to temperature differences and these oscillations perform work. The approach can eliminate conventional refrigerants and reduce moving parts, but practical compressorless designs require careful material and system integration and independent validation of long term performance.

High speed turbomachinery and microturbines:Microturbines and other high speed turbomachinery offer compact decentralised power generation. Their advantages can include fuel flexibility and combined heat and power operation. Challenges include maintaining reliability at high rotational speeds, managing bearings and seals, and meeting maintenance and lifecycle cost expectations for building or district heating operators.

High temperature heat pumps and mechanical vapor recompression (MVR):High temperature heat pumps raise heat to temperatures that suit industrial processes or district heating systems. Mechanical vapor recompression is a process that recovers and upgrades latent heat from vapors by compressing them mechanically and returning the heat to the process. MVR can be energy efficient in appropriate industrial contexts but the systems must match process conditions and be proven at scale.

Novel compressor technologies and wet gas compression:Compressors are central in many energy and industrial systems and account for a substantial share of industrial electricity use. Innovations that reduce energy consumption or eliminate the need for lubricants can yield large benefits. Claims of significant efficiency improvements are promising but require transparent test data, independent verification and demonstration under operating conditions typical for buyers.

Assessment and practical next steps

Pitching sessions are an early but necessary stage in public procurement innovation cycles. They allow buyers to see options and for SMEs to gather market feedback and identify pilot partners. They do not by themselves confirm technical readiness or procurement outcomes. The practical work that follows includes feasibility studies, open market consultations, tender design, pilot contracts and performance verification. Public procurers are often risk averse and need evidence from demonstrations to justify procuring new technologies at scale.

SPIN4EIC is positioned to help with those transitions by providing matchmaking, procurement training and one to one assistance for bid preparation. For procurement to translate into broader adoption there will need to be clarity on costs, operational impacts, maintenance regimes and regulatory or safety compliance where relevant.

What success would look like

Short term outcomes include pilot projects with municipal or utility partners, inclusion in pre commercial procurement or innovation procurement tenders, and one to one buyer follow ups. Medium term outcomes would be proof of operational performance and repeatable procurement cases that reduce perceived risk. Long term outcomes would be measurable emissions reductions or efficiency gains across district heating systems and industrial operations, accompanied by competitive total cost of ownership.

How to follow up or take part

Those interested in similar pitching events or procurement support are advised to monitor SPIN4EIC activity channels, join the EIC Innovation Procurement Programme group on LinkedIn and subscribe to the SPIN4EIC newsletter. The SPIN4EIC Helpdesk can provide bespoke guidance to both EIC innovators and public procurers on getting assistance for tender preparation and market engagement.

A note of caution:Claims made in pitching sessions about being 'groundbreaking' or 'disruptive' reflect potential and aspiration. Independent testing, verified pilot results and transparent commercial terms will be required before public buyers commit funds at scale. Observers should treat early stage demonstrations as the start of validation rather than proof of wide scale impact.

Contacts and resources mentioned at the event

Presenting companies listed contact persons and encouraged follow up via professional profiles. Organisers signposted the SPIN4EIC website, the EIC Innovation Procurement Programme channels and the SPIN4EIC newsletter as the primary routes for updates on future pitching events, procurement assistance calls and academy dates.

Resource	How to engage
SPIN4EIC initiative	Monitor SPIN4EIC announcements and open calls for procurement assistance and pitching events
EIC Innovation Procurement Programme LinkedIn group	Join for networking and matchmaking updates
SPIN4EIC Helpdesk	Contact for bespoke support in preparing to bid for innovation procurement

The Vaasa pitching event was one of several routes the EIC uses to connect awardees to public buyers. Whether these connections produce pilots, tenders or contracts will depend on the follow up work by procurers and innovators and on the ability of solutions to demonstrate real world value under buyer conditions.

EIC pitching session at Vaasa Energy Week spotlights heat pumps, turbines and industrial compressors

EIC pitching session at Vaasa Energy Week brings innovators and buyers together

Event, partners and purpose

Who presented and what they pitched

Voices from the session

Technical concepts explained

Assessment and practical next steps

What success would look like

How to follow up or take part

Contacts and resources mentioned at the event

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