How the EIC Women Leadership Programme helped RoboTwin founder Megi Mejdrechová build leadership and confidence

Brussels, September 26th 2024

Summary

›Megi Mejdrechová, founder and CTO of RoboTwin, credits the EIC Women Leadership Programme cohort with improving her leadership skills and confidence.
›The programme paired training, one to one mentoring and business coaching to support female leaders from EIC and EIT communities.
›RoboTwin develops robot teaching through motion tracking and imitation to simplify automation of complex manufacturing tasks.
›Participants valued the personalised approach, diverse training topics and the sense of community that reduced feelings of isolation.
›The EIC positions the programme as part of wider efforts to close the gender gap in European deep tech and to strengthen competitiveness for 2021 to 2027.

Leading with confidence: Megi Mejdrechová and the EIC Women Leadership Programme

The EIC Women Leadership Programme, delivered through the European Innovation Council Business Acceleration Services, is intended to give female researchers and entrepreneurs practical leadership skills and peer networks. Participants combine short, focused training modules with one to one mentoring and business coaching. For Megi Mejdrechová, founder and CTO of RoboTwin, the programme helped translate ad hoc learning into repeatable management practices and greater self confidence in a demanding early stage deep tech environment.

Why Megi applied and what she brought to the cohort

Megi came to the programme as a Women TechEU beneficiary and as a founder who had prototyped the core RoboTwin technology. She learned about the Women Leadership Programme from her project coordinator and saw it as an opportunity to meet peers on a similar path, to reduce isolation and to pursue structured personal development alongside the intense demands of running a deep tech start up.

Motivation to join:She wanted time to focus on her leadership development in addition to product and technical work. She sought coaching, data driven techniques and case studies to support the practical demands of managing a mixed senior and junior engineering team while leading product strategy.

The technical challenge Mejdrechová is tackling at RoboTwin

RoboTwin builds technology to teach industrial robots through motion tracking and imitation. The startup aims to let experienced workers transfer skills and tacit knowledge to robots by demonstration rather than through extensive programming. The approach targets companies that face barriers to automation because tasks are complex or change frequently. Megi was involved in the idea and prototyping phase and now coordinates technical development and commercial strategy.

RoboTwin technology explained:Motion tracking and imitation systems capture human demonstrations, translate them into robot actions and adapt those actions to a robot kinematic model and the factory context. The technical work typically combines sensors, computer vision, motion capture or inertial sensing, trajectory learning algorithms and integration with robot control systems. The main practical hurdles include robustness to noisy demonstrations, mapping human intent to robot constraints and scaling from pilot tasks to diverse production lines.

Where the leadership gap shows up in deep tech startups

Mejdrechová described common early stage founder challenges. Taking on a leadership role at a young age meant a steep skills acquisition curve. She had to learn management techniques rapidly while continuing technical work. Balancing self learning with execution, managing both senior and junior staff and making strategic commercial decisions are typical pressure points in deep tech ventures where technical credibility and managerial competence must be developed in parallel.

What the EIC Women Leadership Programme offered and what Megi gained

The 5th cohort of the programme ran from April to June 2024. It combined group training sessions, one to one mentoring, business coaching and networking. Megi singled out practical team management techniques, communication approaches, feedback methods and how to structure persuasive arguments as direct takeaways she uses in daily work. More than tools, she reported a measurable mind shift driven by greater self awareness and reflection.

A training that stuck with her:Megi recalled the session called 'Be your own coach' as particularly important. That training emphasised self awareness, reflection and responsibility in leadership and contributed to the change in how she approaches day to day decisions.

She also highlighted the value of one to one mentoring. These sessions allowed deeper reflection on a small number of issues covered in training and produced practical conclusions she could apply to her team and company strategy. Equally important was the cohort community. Meeting women from different industries and countries who faced similar structural barriers reduced the sense of isolation and provided pragmatic tips drawn from lived experience.

Programme design and participant experience

Participants in EIC WLP cohorts receive a needs assessment and then follow a tailored pathway. Typical elements are weekly two hour training sessions on leadership skills such as negotiation, pitching and building inclusive teams. Mentors are matched from a pool of experienced CEOs, investors and serial entrepreneurs and business coaches provide up to a few days of targeted support to address specific commercial or organisational challenges. The programme does not provide direct funding and participants normally cover their travel and accommodation for in person events.

Element	What it offers	Typical participant commitment
Training sessions	Interactive workshops on leadership, communication, negotiation and pitching	Weekly 2 hour sessions during the cohort period. Attendance expectation typically 85 percent
One to one mentoring	Longer term guidance from experienced founders, CEOs or investors	Bi weekly meetings for several months depending on the cohort structure
Business coaching	Focused coaching on go to market, partnerships, organisational or financial strategy	Up to 3 days of coaching time broken into sessions best suited to needs
Networking and alumni	Peer learning, role model sessions and access to a LinkedIn alumni group	Participation in networking events and ongoing alumni engagement

How Megi evaluates the programme and advice to peers

Megi described the EIC Women Leadership Programme as a differentiated offer that fills gaps in existing coaching and mentoring. She emphasised the personalised focus on personal development rather than general business development. Her recommendation was pragmatic. If you want structured methodology and tools to reinforce your leadership, apply. If you know where you want to develop, you will likely find relevant content inside the programme.

Context within the EIC and the wider EU innovation ecosystem

The EIC has positioned support to women innovators as a strategic objective for the 2021 to 2027 period. The Council and implementing agencies have introduced targeted instruments such as Women TechEU, Women Leadership Programme and the European Prize for Women Innovators to increase participation by women in deep tech entrepreneurship. EIC reporting indicates that women led companies are receiving growing attention inside its portfolio and that programmes such as WLP are part of a broader effort to address structural imbalances in research and business.

Reported EIC figures to know:Recent EIC material points to increases in women representation across EIC instruments. For example, in 2024 thirty percent of companies supported in the EIC Accelerator were women led and a substantial share of Pathfinder and Transition projects are coordinated by women. Such headline numbers indicate progress but do not on their own resolve deeper ecosystem challenges such as funding gaps, regional disparities and limited female representation at later funding stages.

Implications and a cautious assessment

Programmes that combine skills, mentoring and networks are useful because they address practical and psychological barriers simultaneously. Megi's testimony illustrates the value of structured leadership training for founders who are balancing deep technical work and people management. At the same time, such programmes are a partial remedy. They cannot substitute for changes in investor behavior, hiring practices or systemic support in weaker innovation ecosystems. Measuring long term impact requires tracking career progression, company growth and access to follow on finance for programme alumni.

How to find more information or apply

The EIC publishes calls and cohort information on the EIC Community Platform and runs open calls at intervals. The Women Leadership Programme also maintains an alumni group and a podcast series called SheEIC that features alumni and practical leadership topics. For questions about the programme, the EIC Community contact page or the programme specific contact address are the recommended channels.

Contact and application timing:Applications for future cohorts are announced on the EIC Community platform and via the EIC BAS newsletter. The EIC suggests prospective applicants monitor those channels for open calls and information sessions.

Bottom line

Megi Mejdrechová's account points to specific, practical gains from the EIC Women Leadership Programme. The combination of training, mentoring and community reduced her sense of isolation and gave her concrete techniques for team management and communication. These are precisely the kinds of interventions that can accelerate founder capability in early stage deep tech companies. They are not a cure all. Broader structural shifts in funding and ecosystem support remain necessary to translate individual improvements into systemic change.