Venture Incubation Program

Digital works towards and believe that creating a Strong Digital Europe will safeguard European values by being inclusive, fair, and sustainable.

The EIT Digital Venture Incubation Program is a two-stage competition whose mission is to support the establishment of deep technology-based ventures, thus complying to EIT core KPIs of venture support and venture creation, by helping innovators in:

• developing and finalizing their Minimum Viable Product (MVP), e.g. a market validated functioning version of their product
• establishing their company

The program The program is executed and delivered by Innovation Partners of EIT Digital.

Venture Incubation Program’s Focus 

• Digital Industry
  • Digital Industry covers the seamless process from production to retail and related supporting functions such as logistics and consumer engagement.
• Digital Cities
  • Digital transformation of the cities through centralized, participative and collaborative interactions between city actors: government, city service providers, industry, citizens.
• Digital Wellbeing
  • Digital Wellbeing leverages digital technologies to stay healthy (prevention/early detection) or cope with an existing chronic condition. Both physical and mental wellbeing are considered.
• Digital Tech
  • Digital Tech is the core enabler of digital transformation, by providing secure, robust, responsive and intelligent communications and computation facilities.
• Digital Finance
  • Delivery of innovative financial products and services through digital technology, with the objective of making financial systems more reliable, more transparent, and less dependent on central infrastructures.

Structure of the Venture Incubation Program (Incubator) 

• By applying to the Venture Incubation Program, teams participate in a two-stage competition. In the first stage teams have the chance to win a “Growth Package” consisting of a cash prize and participation in the pre-Acceleration Phase. Admission to the second stage requires the successful completion of the first stage and the incorporation of the venture, and gives applicants the chance to win the “Final Prize”, a cash prize of either 10,000 € or 20,000 € or 25,000 € based on their performance. Established ventures will provide EIT Digital with equity.
• Growth Package 
  • The Growth Package consists of an 8 week pre-Acceleration Phase delivered by qualified experts, and a cash prize of 5,000 €. The pre-Acceleration Phase will support teams in the development and finalization of their MVP and in the establishment of their venture. It will provide training in entrepreneurial skillset through a two-day bootcamp and an 8 week-long virtual mentoring program and features a Pitch Day as defined in the Venture Incubation Program. The pre-Acceleration Phase for this call will be executed by the EIT Digital Venture Incubation Program Partner and will be overseen by the Venture Incubation Program Committee consisting of 2 representatives from EIT Digital and 2 representatives of the Partner. The pre-Acceleration Phase will:
    • Help selected teams to focus on market verticals & offer, shifting from a product to a market perspective.
    • De-risk deep-tech ventures via product and market validation, pushing participants to test market hypotheses with real potential customers.
    • Create opportunities for peer-to-peer learning among selected teams encouraging a strong community spirit that will last far beyond the end of the program.
    • Enable participants to maximize their product-market fit by exposing them to real market actors in their target sectors.
    • Prepare the participants for a seed stage investment from Business Angels or Venture Capital firms.
    • At the end of the pre-Acceleration Phase, successful participating teams are expected to have executed and validated their Minimal Viable Product (MVP) and to have established their one and only one venture through incorporation in one of the current 27 EU member states.
• Final Prize 
  • Teams that a) have been awarded the Growth Package and b) have successfully completed their MVP and incorporated their venture in one of the EU 27 countries, will be eligible to apply for a prize of either 10,000 € or 20,000 € or 25,000 € depending on their performance, payable to the venture.

Eligibility Conditions

• All team members must be fully-fledged members of the team and must be listed in the online application form.
• A minimum number of 2 members per team are eligible to take part in the competition.
• Team members must be resident in one of the following countries:
  • EU Member States: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain. Germany, Sweden
  • H2020 Associated Countries in Europe: Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.
  • Outermost Regions: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain)
• Each team can submit one and no more than one application.
• Applying teams must not have already established a legal entity for the project in question. Those teams who already have registered start-ups before 1 January 2024. connected to their business ideas are not eligible to participate. Start-ups who registered their company in the given calendar year (from 1 January 2024) are eligible for the program.
• Any source of funding that has an equity ownership component, including funding from non-managing founders, is considered institutional and must be clearly identified in the proposal.

For more information, visit EIT Digital.