EIC Soft-landing Programme in San Francisco and Silicon Valley

From 19 to 24 May 2024 the European Innovation Council organised a closing week in San Francisco and Silicon Valley for its USA Soft-landing Programme. The activity brought together 15 European companies backed by EIC funding and active in health and life sciences. It followed three months of preparatory mentoring and training and ended with a concentrated five-day bootcamp of workshops, pitch sessions, investor introductions and curated meetings with local research and corporate stakeholders.

Design, partners and stated aims

The programme aimed to accelerate the participants' internationalisation path and improve their prospects in the US market while allowing them to keep attention on core operations at home. Delivery relied on a mix of EIC resources and high-profile local partners. Those named by organisers included EISMEA leadership, the EU Office in San Francisco, EIC ambassador Jillian Manus, Stanford University School of Medicine, INSEAD San Francisco Hub, NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center, San Francisco Bay Area Council and the Commonwealth Club World Affairs. The closing week also included visits to the Gladstone Institutes and engagements with the Chan Zuckerberg BioHub and Stanford Medicine venture teams.

Organisers described the activity as a specialised business acceleration service for companies that have already gained traction abroad and want to enter the US without diverting their main operations. According to Jean-David Malo, Director of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, the selected beneficiaries were given deep exposure to the Bay Area ecosystem to expand market prospects, meet potential partners and pitch to investors. The programme has now been elevated from a joint pilot inside the International Trade Fairs framework to a stand-alone offering in the EIC Business Acceleration Services catalogue.

Programme structure and bootcamp activities

Participating companies underwent three months of training and mentorship before attending a five-day bootcamp in the Bay Area. The closing week combined academic workshops, branding and valuation clinics, visits to research hubs, investor introductions, pitch opportunities and a public networking evening called the European Innovation Spotlight.

Week at a glance

The week followed a clear schedule. Monday began with workshops at INSEAD. Tuesday moved into Silicon Valley and the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center where participants engaged in investor-focused sessions. Wednesday was hosted at Stanford University School of Medicine with briefings from the Director of the Chan Zuckerberg BioHub, Stanford's Director of Digital Health and managing partners from Catalyst, Stanford Medicine's venture fund. Scaleups had pitched to a selected audience of VCs and health industry leaders. Thursday concentrated on meetings with life science companies and Bay Area Council members at the Bay Area Council Headquarters located on the historic Klamath ferryboat. Friday delivered a brand training session by Goodby Silverstein, a funding assessment clinic and the European Innovation Spotlight networking event. The Spotlight was opened by Gerard De Graaf, Head of the EU Office in San Francisco, and attended by EIC representatives and local partners.

Who attended: the 15 EIC-backed scaleups

Fifteen companies were selected for this Health and Life Sciences cohort. Their selection followed an open call and pre-departure preparations covered market fit and pitching readiness.

Immediate feedback and reported effects

Participants gave positive qualitative feedback. Ligence's CTO Simas Tatoris said the programme changed how the team imagines their US presence and created space to develop a new approach. Organisers highlighted the pitch opportunities and access to investors and partners as key deliverables.

Context within EIC internationalisation services

The Soft-landing Programme builds on prior pilots that sat inside the EIC International Trade Fairs Programme. The EIC has been consolidating its internationalisation offer under a Global Business Expansion Programme designed to provide lighter touch market entry services and more targeted missions. Upcoming EIC missions listed elsewhere include cleantech and healthcare missions to the US and other regions through 2026. Selection criteria typically ask companies to demonstrate a market entry plan, commitment of resources and fit with target market needs.

A cautious assessment

Immersion programmes can be valuable to accelerate learning about a complex market and to surface early contacts. The Bay Area offers dense networks of investors, corporates and research institutions that can supply validation and capital. At the same time the Bay Area ecosystem is highly competitive and network driven. Market access from a short visit is rarely sufficient on its own to secure deals or funding. Lasting success typically requires follow-up resources, local regulatory and reimbursement expertise for health technologies and often a multi-stage engagement strategy. The EIC and its partners will need to publish follow-up metrics to demonstrate whether these soft-landing cohorts convert introductions into measurable commercial outcomes.

Notes and disclaimer

The EIC published a short recap and a video highlight of the closing week. The information here reproduces the main elements reported by the EIC and supplements them with context about how soft-landing activities typically function. The original EIC communications included a disclaimer that the material should not be interpreted as the official position of the European Commission or other organisations. Independent verification of long term outcomes for the cohort is not available in the published summary.