EIC Multi-Corporate Day in Bucharest: what happened and why it matters

On 9 and 10 April 2025 OMV Petrom hosted a Multi-Corporate Day organised under the European Innovation Council Corporate Partnership Programme. The event, held at the OMV Petrom headquarters in Bucharest, brought together senior energy-sector decision makers from OMV Petrom, Bonatti, Confind and Romgaz with 17 startups selected from the EIC portfolio across 11 countries. The stated objectives were to create matchmaking opportunities, explore pilot projects, co-development, and potential strategic investment.

Format and stated aims of the two-day event

The programme combined reverse pitching by corporates, curated startup presentations, interactive Q&A sessions and pre-arranged one-to-one meetings. According to organisers, participating startups were pre-selected to align with the corporates' innovation priorities and had received EIC training to sharpen business cases and address industry needs during meetings. The event is part of a broader EIC Business Acceleration Services effort to foster corporate-startup collaboration across Europe.

Who the startups were and the technologies on show

Seventeen EIC-backed companies presented solutions across several technical domains relevant to the energy sector. These included industrial sensing and monitoring, predictive maintenance using AI, energy storage, digital twins, drones for infrastructure inspection, edge and endpoint cybersecurity, decentralised energy conversion, and novel pumping and compressor technologies for oil and gas operations. The startups spanned the EU and nearby markets and represented a mixture of hardware, software and hybrid solutions.

Notable moments and commercial signals

Organisers highlighted Cold Pad as a standout for attracting interest from OMV Petrom decision makers. Cold Pad supplies bonded, non-intrusive fasteners and structural repair systems that can be installed during live operations. The company is an EIC grantee and reportedly holds a €2.5 million EIC grant and received equity investment from the EIC Fund. Cold Pad said the event provided high level access to decision makers and helped accelerate connections for potential pilots and commercial conversations.

Beyond individual matches, the activity was described as showcasing 'open innovation' where agile, disruptive startups meet the scale, regulatory knowledge and integration capacity of large energy companies. Organisers presented the activity as a mechanism to stimulate pilot projects, co-development and potential strategic investment.

EIC Corporate Partnership Programme: context and track record

The EIC Corporate Partnership Programme sits within the EIC Business Acceleration Services. Its stated mission is to connect EIC-backed innovators with decision makers in major European corporates. The programme has organised dozens of matchmaking initiatives since 2017 and lists many headline corporate partners from across industry. The EIC reports that participating startups and corporates have documented follow ups and business impact from those engagements.

Analysis: why these events matter but what to watch for

Corporate multi-day matchmaking events help overcome a predictable barrier for startups which is access to decision makers. They can accelerate awareness and put promising technologies into pilots faster. For corporates the benefits are clearer sight of innovation pipelines and curated access to technologies that might fill product or operational gaps.

That said there are common caveats. Demonstrations of interest are not guaranteed pilots. Pilot projects in energy and industrial settings face technical validation, long safety and regulatory approval cycles, contractual and procurement processes, interoperability constraints and often require capital expenditure. Startups that want to convert meetings into industrial pilots need explicit roadmaps, compliance plans, and proofs of concept tailored to operational realities.

Practical next steps and realistic expectations for startups

For EIC-backed startups that took part the immediate practical steps are clear. Follow up quickly with the contacts from one-to-one meetings, prepare targeted pilot proposals with risk mitigation and compliance plans, and outline measurable KPIs for trials. Founders should also be ready to explain supply chain and industrialisation paths if pilots are successful.

For corporates the action items are to allocate clear pilot governance, specify evaluation criteria ahead of experiments, and create transparent procurement pathways for successful pilots to access scale and funding. Without those internal processes even the best proof of concept can stall.

What the broader EU innovation ecosystem should watch

Events like the OMV Petrom Multi-Corporate Day are one of several mechanisms the EIC uses to translate public funding into private sector uptake. Observers and policymakers should monitor whether these initiatives lead to measurable industrial deployments and job creation, or whether they remain valuable but symbolic linkages. Tracking outcomes such as signed pilot agreements, paid trials, procurement contracts and co-investments will be critical to judge long term impact.

Finally, while EIC grants and the EIC Fund can provide meaningful early capital, deep tech scaling in energy frequently requires follow-on venture and corporate capital as well as long procurement lead times. The public sector can help by aligning funding instruments with corporate procurement cycles and by reducing administrative friction where safe and possible.

Additional resources and contacts

The EIC Corporate Partnership Programme publishes further information on its activities, partner criteria and upcoming events through the EIC Business Acceleration Services channels. Startups interested in participating in future initiatives can consult the EIC service catalogue and corporate partnership pages for open calls and contact points.