EIC Summit 2025: a focused look at Business Acceleration Services for beneficiaries

Brussels, February 26th 2025

Summary

›The EIC beneficiaries day on 2 April 2025 in Brussels will dedicate a workshop track to EIC Business Acceleration Services, offering targeted support on investment, procurement, corporate partnerships and scaling.
›EIC Business Acceleration Services are organised around three pillars Contracts, Contacts and Skills and are available to EIC awardees and other eligible beneficiaries.
›The BAS track programme features sessions on board effectiveness, innovation procurement, corporate venturing, international expansion and specialised support such as IP, regulatory pathways and ARPA style management.
›Satellite events include an EIC Community training on AI tools on 1 April an EIC Partners Day on 1 April and a Pathfinder Challenges Info Day on 4 April.
›EIC publishes impact figures for BAS activity since 2021 but some metrics are limited to recent reporting windows and should be treated as EIC reported results not independently verified.

What beneficiaries need to know about BAS at the EIC Summit 2025

The European Innovation Council is using the EIC Summit 2025 to concentrate direct support for its awardees. Day 1 on 2 April is the EIC beneficiaries day and includes a dedicated Business Acceleration Services track. The workshops in that track are reserved for EIC beneficiaries and focus on practical topics such as corporate engagement procurement investor readiness IP regulatory pathways and scaling strategies. If you are an EIC awardee or otherwise eligible you should consider the beneficiaries day as a concentrated opportunity to access tailored services and ecosystem matches.

Practical details and how to join

EIC beneficiaries day workshops take place on 2 April 2025 at Tour & Taxis Brussels. The main EIC Summit flagship event is open to broader stakeholders on 3 April at the same venue. Separate satellite events are scheduled for the days around the Summit including an EIC Community training on AI tools on 1 April an EIC Partners Day on 1 April and a Pathfinder Challenges Info Day on 4 April. Registration windows and specific sign up deadlines appear on the EIC Community Platform and on the EIC Summit registration page.

Event	Date	Location or format	Target audience / note
EIC beneficiaries day	2 April 2025	Tour & Taxis Brussels	Exclusive to EIC beneficiaries
EIC Summit flagship event	3 April 2025	Tour & Taxis Brussels	Open to wider stakeholders
EIC Community training on AI tools for innovators	1 April 2025	Brussels in person	EIC beneficiaries only expression of interest by 13 March
EIC Partners Day	1 April 2025 plus matchmaking on 2 April 9:00-10:00	Convent Garden Floor 25 and Tour & Taxis	EIC partners and beneficiary engagement registration by 14 March
Pathfinder Challenges Info Day	4 April 2025	Albert Borschette Congress Center and online	Open registration for in person participants by 25 March

EIC Business Acceleration Services track agenda highlights

The BAS track runs a series of compact workshops that combine practical tips case studies and panel discussion. The agenda covers board governance IP and patent support innovation procurement corporate venturing investor readiness international expansion gender and leadership and talent programmes such as InnoNext. Below is the BAS track session timetable as published for the beneficiaries day.

Time	Session	Focus
10:30 - 11:15	EIC Scaling Club How to make your board work for you?	Board composition governance non executive directors and how boards can actively support growth
11:15 - 12:00	Accelerate Your Business with Innovation Procurement	EIC Innovation Procurement Programme case studies and buyer perspectives
12:30 - 13:15	Corporate Venturing Lessons from the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme	Practical insights on startup corporate collaboration and corporate venturing models
14:30 - 15:00	EIC Business Acceleration Services Discover EIC support beyond funding	Overview of BAS offerings and how to access them
15:00 - 15:45	International expansion Scale in Europe and beyond	Strategies and experiences for global growth and ecosystem partnerships
16:15 - 16:45	Why the glass ceiling cannot be broken by women alone it needs to be opened from above	Leadership approaches to increase gender diverse leadership in startups and corporate partners
16:15 - 16:45	InnoNext Next Generation Innovation Talents	How the InnoNext internship and talent programme connects researchers and startups

What the EIC says BAS provides and who is eligible

The EIC positions Business Acceleration Services as a one stop complement to grant and equity funding. Services are organised around three pillars labeled by the EIC as Contracts Contacts and Skills. Eligibility extends to EIC Awardees from Accelerator Transition and Pathfinder Women TechEU STEP Seal holders members of the EIC Scaling Club and some Seal of Excellence recipients. Some services are also accessible through specific agreements with national or European initiatives and the EIC ACCESS plus co funding mechanism for partner services runs through an open call.

Pillar	Examples of services	Purpose
Contracts	Corporate Partnership Programme Innovation Procurement Programme Global Business Expansion International Trade Fairs	Translate technology into paid contracts pilots procurement wins and commercial partnerships
Contacts	EIC Community Platform Ecosystem Partnership Programme Scaling Club	Provide network connections corporates investors accelerators and sector experts
Skills	Coaching Programme Tech to Market Venture building Women Leadership Programme Investor readiness training	Build capabilities for fundraising regulatory navigation commercialisation and leadership

EIC Business Acceleration Services in plain terms:A package of matchmaking coaching market access and procurement support offered to EIC backed innovators. The services are meant to be complementary to EIC funding and available across the innovation cycle. Access to many opportunities is coordinated through the EIC Community Platform.

Notable programme elements in the Agenda

Several sessions address recurring barriers for deep tech scale ups. Innovation procurement aims to open public and private buyer markets to startups through structured procurement approaches. Corporate venturing sessions examine how large firms and startups structure collaborations to create win win outcomes. Investor readiness content ranges from co investment with the EIC Fund to practical tips for closing rounds and seed investment signals. There are also sessions on IP support regulatory pathways in health through EMA engagement access to research infrastructures and ARPA style management for breakthrough programmes.

Innovation procurement explained:Innovation procurement is when public or private buyers design procurement processes that specify the need but not the exact technical solution. This creates markets for innovative suppliers. The EIC runs SPIN4EIC InnoBuyer and InnoMatch instruments to match awardees with committed buyers and help innovators convert R amp D into procurement contracts.

Corporate venturing explained:Corporate venturing is a spectrum from informal partnerships to corporate venture capital and strategic pilots. Effective corporate engagement needs alignment on commercial objectives IP licensing terms and pilot evaluation criteria. EIC data cited engagement of 100 plus major firms and more than 1 400 startups in its corporate partnership programme since 2017.

EIC reported impact metrics and caveats

The EIC publishes a set of impact numbers for BAS activity. These include figures such as more than 20 000 one to one meetings 595 deals and approximately €350 million raised via investor outreach. The EIC also reports €1.2 billion raised by Scaling Club members since joining and a handful of procurement related totals. Some figures are explicitly limited to recent years for which reporting practices changed for instance trade fair turnover is reported since 2024 only and procurement tender values reference activity since March 2024. These numbers are useful to assess scale and activity of the programme but they are self reported by the EIC and its partners and therefore should not be treated as independently audited impact metrics without further validation.

Metric	EIC reported value	Reporting note
One to one meetings between awardees and corporates procurers investors	20 000+	Since 2021 as published by EIC
Deals	595	EIC reported matches leading to contracts or agreements
Funds raised via investor outreach	EUR 350 million	EIC reported figure from investor outreach activities
Scaling Club members funds raised since joining	EUR 1.2 billion	EIC reported aggregate
Trade fair turnover attributed to EIC support	EUR 42 million	Figure reported since 2024
Procurement tender value submitted by supported bidders	EUR 28.4 million with EUR 7.7 million raised	Activity since March 2024 only
Pilots supported	22 ongoing 16 completed	Supported with EUR 1.93 million

Satellite events and training around the Summit

The EIC organised three satellite events adjacent to the Summit. These are practical convenings that extend the Summit's beneficiaries day and are aimed at deepening skills and creating partner matches across the ecosystem.

EIC Community training Artificial intelligence tools for innovators:A half day in person session on 1 April 13:00 to 18:30 CEST in Brussels. The training explores AI tools that increase productivity for startups and researchers. Attendance is open to EIC backed innovators and places require expression of interest by 13 March. The event is intended to be hands on and practical focusing on applications rather than high level theory.

EIC Partners Day:Main activities on 1 April 10:00 to 17:30 at Convent Garden Floor 25 with matchmaking on 2 April 9:00 to 10:00 at Tour amp Taxis. The Partners Day brings together organisations listed in the EIC Service Catalogue and potential users among EIC beneficiaries. It is linked to the EIC Ecosystem Partnership Programme and the ACCESS plus co funding instrument that can provide up to EUR 60 000 per beneficiary to co fund partner services until 31 May 2026.

Pathfinder Challenges Info Day:An info day on 4 April at the Albert Borschette Congress Center and online to explain the EIC Pathfinder Challenges in the 2025 work programme. The event includes plenary and parallel sessions and will be livestreamed. Recordings and slides will be made public after the Info Day.

Technical and policy subjects covered in the workshops

Sessions include deeper treatments of technical or policy matters that commonly slow commercialisation for deep tech. Examples in the programme include how to access large research infrastructure such as high performance computing synchrotrons and imaging facilities how to run IP due diligence and leverage support from EPO and EUIPO early regulatory engagement with EMA for health technologies and how ARPA style funding and management models could be adapted to a European context to accelerate high risk high reward research.

ARPA style management:A programme design inspired by the US Advanced Research Projects Agency family. Key elements include setting ambitious goals running competitive project selection emphasizing interdisciplinary teams and accepting higher technical risk. The workshop looks at how such approaches could be implemented in Europe and what governance structures would be required.

Regulatory engagement for health technologies:Early interaction with regulators reduces uncertainty for medical device and combination product developers. The European Medicines Agency provides accelerated regulatory science advice and pathways such as the Innovation Office and early dialogue tools that can shorten time to market when used appropriately.

How to access BAS services and programme governance

Open calls for EIC Business Acceleration Services and EIC Ecosystem Partners are published on the EIC Community Platform. The EIC BAS is managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency EISMEA which coordinates access matchmaking and co funding instruments. The EIC is presented as a 10 billion euro initiative supporting deep tech in Europe with BAS intended as value add to grants and equity. Organisations interested in joining the partner network must follow the specific partner calls listed on the Community Platform.

Where to find opportunities and apply:Sign in with EU Login on the EIC Community Platform to see open calls apply to services and join matchmaking events. The platform centralises BAS open calls partner catalogues coaching offers and event registration.

A measured view on the Summit messaging

The EIC Summit and the beneficiaries day present a dense programme of practical interventions and ecosystem building. The acceleration services catalogue addresses recognised bottlenecks for deep tech scale up such as access to buyers investor readiness IP management regulatory uncertainty and talent. Reported impact figures illustrate activity at scale but are reported by the EIC and its partners and include different reporting windows. Beneficiaries should view the Summit as a way to access introductions coaching and procurement pilots while keeping expectations calibrated on the usual timelines for deep tech commercialisation. Contracts pilots and procurement awards require sustained follow up and legal commercial and technical due diligence well beyond a single meeting or workshop.

Quick checklist for EIC beneficiaries attending the Summit

1. Register for the beneficiaries day and check workshop rooms and times. 2. Book participation in satellite events if relevant especially the Partners Day and the AI training. 3. Prepare concise materials for matchmaking including a one page value proposition and clear asks for partners and procurers. 4. Identify which BAS contacts to meet in advance via the EIC Community Platform. 5. Plan immediate post Summit follow up actions to convert meetings into pilots contracts or investor diligence.

For full programme details registration steps and the latest updates consult the EIC Community Platform and the EIC Summit 2025 official pages. The EIC provides this information for knowledge sharing and it does not represent an official position of the European Commission beyond published official documents.