Budapest hosts Europe’s most significant innovation event

The European Union body, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), aims to strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity, entrepreneurial spirit and economic competitiveness in areas such as healthcare, the food industry, energy and digitalization, among others. One of the institute’s main programs is the EIT Jumpstarter, available in more than 22 countries, which helps startups in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe in particular to turn their ideas into marketable businesses.

The EIT will host the EIT Innovation Awards event in Budapest on November 25. The large-scale event will include the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Finale, where finalist teams will present their ideas in a live pitch competition, followed by an awards ceremony. The finalists will be the six best teams in seven areas: Food and Agri-Tech, Healthcare, Energy and Renewables, Smart Cities and Urban Mobility, New European Bauhaus, Rebuilding Ukraine, and Metals, Minerals and Industrial By-products. The total prize money is 132,500 euros, and the winners of each category can receive a prize of up to 10,000 euros. In addition, the EIT also supports the most promising businesses at the regional level: the best from the Western Balkans will receive a special prize of 5,000 euros, and the best from the outermost regions of Europe and the Mediterranean countries will receive a special prize of 2,500 euros each.

Excellent innovators from 17 countries made it to the finals, and Turkey is represented by the largest number, with 8 companies. Ukraine came in second place with seven companies, and Hungary tied with Spain, Poland, Portugal and Serbia for third place, with 3 candidates each. Without claiming to be complete, startups from many European countries, such as Latvia, North Macedonia, Estonia and Italy, also made it to the finals, and even Venezuela is represented with one company. Female entrepreneurs now make up 29 percent of the finalists this year, which demonstrates the growing role of women in the scientific, technical and business spheres.

The selected candidates developed their business models for 7 months within the framework of the program and learned the most important elements of market entry, financial planning, investor negotiations and legal foundations with the help of qualified mentors. The significance of EIT Jumpstarter is also due to the fact that since 2017, the program has supported the creation of 124 startups, trained 1,180 participants, created 2,100 new jobs and generated approximately 150 million euros, nearly 60 billion forints in external investment.

“Our event is a celebration of European innovation and togetherness. For us, there is no region that can be left out of the European cycle, an innovative approach can gain ground everywhere – that is what we work for and on November 25 we will award those who stand out even among the best. Every euro we invest returns thirty times, making EIT Jumpstarter a trademark of quality”

– highlighted Marta Kaczmarek, head of the EIT Community Strategic Regional Innovations Cluster.

The Budapest event However, it is not only about the EIT Jumpstarter programme, but also about celebrating the wider EIT community and the strength of European solidarity. A particularly important element of this is the EIT Red Kalyna programme, whose awards ceremony highlights and supports the role of Ukrainian female entrepreneurs, educators and researchers, even in difficult circumstances caused by the war.

The event will also feature former EIT Jumpstarter mentees and academic institutions. The EIT Jumpstarter Next programme supports selected members of the EIT community and their teams in their international expansion. The EIT InfraBooster offers training and capacity building to academic institutions in order to transform their research infrastructure into market services. The EIT Awards recognise outstanding innovators and entrepreneurs from the EIT community who are driving Europe’s transformation towards a more sustainable, competitive and inclusive future.

The event is free to attend, but requires prior registration. Interested parties can also participate online. The programme can be found at this link.