Four EIC-backed women shaping technology, healthcare and space on International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Brussels, February 11th 2025

Summary

›On 11 February 2025 the EIC spotlighted four women innovators supported through EIC schemes and the EIC Women Leadership Programme.
›Irina Kavounovski leads Vigor Medical and is advancing the C-LANT Drainage Port, an EIC Accelerator supported device for chest trauma and postoperative drainage.
›Ana Teresa Maia heads expressTEC which is developing expressPIK, an RNA and AI based companion diagnostic for breast cancer, and recently joined the Dengun Founders Program.
›Jintin Frank at Engineering Minds Munich contributed a Heater Control Unit for the HIVE payload that launched to sun synchronous orbit on a SpaceX rideshare.
›Tina Černič at ReCatalyst works on scaling platinum alloy catalysts for PEM fuel cells and the company signed a commercial memorandum of understanding with an MEA producer.
›The EIC Women Leadership Programme and Women TechEU are part of broader EIC efforts to raise the share of women leaders in deep tech but challenges remain around commercialization, regulation and equitable ecosystem access.

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2025: four EIC-backed innovators

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February highlights both the contributions of women in STEM and persistent gaps in participation and senior leadership. The European Innovation Council is using the occasion to profile four women supported through EIC programmes and the EIC Women Leadership Programme. Their projects span medical devices, molecular diagnostics, satellite thermal systems and fuel cell catalysts. Each example illustrates how targeted funding and leadership support can accelerate development. At the same time these initiatives underscore the long road from technical proof of concept to clinical approval, market adoption or industrial scale.

Irina Kavounovski, Vigor Medical Technologies Ltd

Irina Kavounovski is CEO of Vigor Medical Technologies. The company received EIC Accelerator support for the C-LANT Drainage Port project. The device is pitched as a self-fixating drainage port designed to treat chest trauma and postoperative drainage needs following major thoracic and abdominal procedures. Irina was also a semi-finalist for the 2025 European Prize for Women Innovators.

C-LANT Drainage Port:Chest trauma and postoperative pleural and abdominal drainage remain sources of complications and high clinical workload. Devices that promise faster deployment, secure fixation and reduced complication rates can improve outcomes in emergency and perioperative care. Clinical safety and effectiveness, sterile manufacturing, and regulatory pathways for medical devices are complex and vary across Europe. Receiving an EIC Accelerator grant indicates backing for further development and commercial planning, but clinical trials, conformity assessment and reimbursement decisions will determine ultimate adoption and impact.

Ana Teresa Maia, expressTEC

Ana Teresa Maia is CEO and co-founder of expressTEC. The company is developing expressPIK, described as an RNA and AI based in vitro companion diagnostic that targets mutations relevant to breast cancer treatment eligibility. expressTEC coordinated a WomenTechEU project and was selected among 12 winners of the Dengun Founders Program, a global startup accelerator and investor showcase.

expressPIK and RNA based diagnostics:Most companion diagnostics rely on DNA sequencing to detect mutations. RNA based tests measure gene expression and can capture dynamic tumour biology that DNA alone may miss. Combining RNA profiling with AI driven algorithms can in principle refine patient selection for targeted therapies. However clinical validation against established gold standards, demonstration of improved patient outcomes, regulatory clearance for companion diagnostics and payer acceptance are required steps. The claims of higher response rates and cost savings are plausible but should be verified in peer reviewed clinical studies and health economics analyses.

Jintin Frank, Engineering Minds Munich

Jintin Frank is CEO of Engineering Minds Munich, a company focused on space electronics and payload systems. The company led work on the Heater Control Unit for the HIVE payload which was launched to sun synchronous orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare. The project addresses thermal control for earth observation payloads that collect land surface temperature data for use cases such as agriculture and urban planning.

Heater Control Unit and satellite thermal management:Satellite instruments often require tight thermal control to ensure sensor stability and data quality. Heater control units regulate temperature across changing orbital environments, especially for instruments operating in the thermal infrared. For small satellite constellations the challenge is to deliver precise thermal regulation while minimising mass, power consumption and cost. Achieving flight heritage on an orbital mission is a meaningful technical milestone, but commercial impact depends on repeatability, reliability across many units and integration into customers’ constellation plans.

Tina Černič, ReCatalyst

Tina Černič is a process development engineer at ReCatalyst, a Slovenian start-up developing next generation platinum alloy catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The ENABLER Transition project aims to make catalysts more affordable and efficient to accelerate the decarbonisation of transport and industry. ReCatalyst announced a Memorandum of Understanding with an unnamed Membrane Electrode Assembly producer, reflecting progress toward commercial partnerships.

Platinum alloy catalysts and MEAs:Platinum is the benchmark catalyst for PEM fuel cells but its cost and limited supply are a barrier to wider uptake. Alloying platinum with other elements can increase activity, improve durability and reduce the amount of platinum required per kilowatt. Membrane Electrode Assemblies combine the catalyst, membrane and gas diffusion layers into a unit that cell manufacturers use to build stacks. Moving from lab scale to industrial MEA integration requires reproducible coating processes, long term durability data, and supply chain scale up. MOUs signal commercial interest but do not guarantee volume contracts or validated field performance.

Snapshot comparison

Innovator	Role and organisation	Project or product	EIC or recognition	Recent milestone
Irina Kavounovski	CEO, Vigor Medical Technologies Ltd	C-LANT Drainage Port device	EIC Accelerator grantee, semi-finalist European Prize for Women Innovators 2025	Advancing device development under EIC support
Ana Teresa Maia	CEO & Co-Founder, expressTEC	expressPIK RNA and AI based companion diagnostic	WomenTechEU project participant, Dengun Founders Program winner	Selected among 12 startups for global investor showcase
Jintin Frank	CEO, Engineering Minds Munich	Heater Control Unit for HIVE payload	Contributor to WomenTechEU and EIC highlighted projects	HIVE payload launched to sun synchronous orbit on SpaceX rideshare
Tina Černič	Process Development Engineer, ReCatalyst	Platinum alloy catalysts for PEM fuel cells	ENABLER Transition project coordinator led by ReCatalyst	Signed Memorandum of Understanding with MEA producer

About the EIC Women Leadership Programme and related EU support

The EIC Women Leadership Programme offers tailored training, mentoring and business coaching to women researchers and entrepreneurs in the EIC and EIT communities. The initiative sits alongside Women TechEU, which provides grants and coaching to early stage women led deep tech startups, and the European Prize for Women Innovators, which recognises standout leadership and breakthroughs. The EIC highlights internal statistics showing increasing representation of women across funded projects but quantitative gaps remain.

Programme mechanics and scale:The EIC WLP runs cohort based training with in person and online elements, matches participants with mentors, and provides business coaching. Participation does not include direct grant funding. The EIC reports that in 2024 women led 30 percent of Accelerator companies invited to interviews and that the broader portfolio includes 134 women led companies or about 19 percent. Around a quarter of Pathfinder and Transition projects are coordinated by women.

What this matters for the EU innovation ecosystem

Profiling individual women innovators serves an important symbolic and practical role. Leadership training, mentoring and visibility can help talented founders navigate investor networks and regulatory systems that have traditionally favoured better represented groups. The EIC suite of programmes can lower early stage barriers and improve the pipeline of women led deep tech ventures.

At the same time the path from grant backed development to measurable societal impact is neither simple nor quick. For medical devices and diagnostics regulatory approval, clinical validation and payer reimbursement are essential and can take years. For space hardware, achieving flight heritage is a milestone but recurring production and customer pipeline are required for commercial scale. For fuel cell catalysts, industrial integration, durability under real world conditions and raw material supply chains determine whether cost and emissions goals are met.

A cautious reading of achievements

Press releases and programme spotlights rightly celebrate progress. They also tend to emphasise milestones rather than the remaining technical, regulatory and market work. Independent validation, peer reviewed evidence when relevant, and transparent commercial terms are vital to judge whether a technology will deliver on public claims. Policymakers and funders should combine visibility efforts with long term support for later stage translation, access to testing infrastructure and measures that address structural barriers to scaling for teams led by underrepresented founders.

Next steps and how to follow developments

Stakeholders who want to follow these projects should look for clinical trial registrations and peer reviewed publications for diagnostics and devices, technical test reports and flight heritage data for space systems, and independent durability and scale up reports for catalyst technologies. The EIC Community platform and programme pages for Women TechEU and the EIC Women Leadership Programme provide application guidance, cohort timelines and contact channels for questions about participation or collaboration.

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