Leading the New Wave of Deep Tech Innovation

• February 22, 2023

The European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) programme, which is part of Horizon Europe, seeks to foster more connected, inclusive, and efficient innovation ecosystems and promote the growth of companies, as outlined in the New European Innovation Agenda. The primary aim of the EIE programme is to bring together individuals and organizations focused on innovation and to facilitate connections between various resources, such as funds, equipment, and facilities, as well as organizations, such as higher education institutions, research and technology organizations, companies, venture capitalists, and financial intermediaries, investors, and policymakers.

The New European Innovation Agenda, adopted on July 5, 2022, aims to establish Europe as a leader in the new era of deep tech innovation and startups. Building on Europeans’ entrepreneurial spirit, scientific excellence, the strength of the single market, and democratic societies, the NEIA aims to improve access to funding and innovation framework conditions, strengthen and better connect innovation players across Europe, attract and retain talent in Europe, and develop policymaking tools.

This document showcases the projects funded under the European Innovation Ecosystems work programme, which support the implementation of the New European Innovation Agenda objectives and, more specifically, its flagship initiatives related to “Funding for deep-tech scale-ups,” “Enabling deep tech innovation through experimentation spaces and public procurement,” and “Accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems across the EU and addressing the innovation divide.”

On January 26, 2023, project coordinators and their partners presented their initiatives in a workshop titled “Projects under the European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme in support of the New European Innovation Agenda.” The project coordinators provided an overview of their activities and connected them to the objectives of the relevant NEIA flagships, namely Flagship 1 on “Funding for deep-tech scale-ups,” Flagship 2 on “Enabling deep tech innovation through experimentation spaces and public procurement,” and Flagship 3 on “Accelerating and strengthening innovation in European Innovation Ecosystems across the EU and addressing the innovation divide.”

The New European Innovation Agenda Flagship 1 seeks to improve access to finance for European startups and scale-ups by mobilizing untapped sources of private capital and simplifying listing rules. The European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme of Horizon Europe and the Startup Europe initiative, supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC), contribute to the Agenda by facilitating the adoption of deep tech innovations and supporting the next generation of innovative companies whose solutions will lead to a more competitive EU and a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world.

European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Leading the new wave of deep tech innovation : projects under the European innovation ecosystems work programme in support of the new European innovation agenda, Publications Office of the European Union, 2023, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/111976