EIT Regional Innovation Booster 2025 - Polish edition Call for Stage 1

Description

In Stage 1 over the course of two months, up to 12 selected start-ups/scale-ups will be selected in the open call. The selected participants will join two intensive weekend Bootcamps, held in on-site (Bootcamp 1) and online (Bootcamp 2) format, and one online Matchmaking, designed to accelerate internationalization and commercialization in one of the target markets: Nordic countries, Germany and Spain. The participating start-up/scale-up can choose only one country in the programme. Stage One will be held in partnership with the National Contact Point in Poland (NCP department), which will play an advisory role in identifying high-potential ventures originating in Poland, and providing experts familiar with EIC requirements. While the EIT NCP will contribute to the implementation of Stage One, its primary role will be support and advisory. The Bootcamps and online Matchmaking sessions will equip start-ups and scale-ups with knowledge, industry connections, and access to potential clients and partners who can support the commercial deployment of their product or solution in the chosen markets. Up to 12 participating start-ups and scale-ups will be divided into three cohorts, each focusing on one of the target EU markets. Each cohort will follow the similar Bootcamp track, which includes: Thematic training sessions with world-class experts, Market benchmarking for the target regions, One-on-one mentoring with industry specialists. Through the Bootcamps, start-ups and scale-ups will create a Market Landing Roadmap to support their continued growth, along with a financial plan for internationalisation activities. These elements will be further developed during Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the EIT Regional Innovation Booster, with additional details provided in a separate call document. The design of Stage 1 of the EIT Regional Innovation Booster includes the following elements, put in the context of chosen market: Bootcamp 1 (on-site): Market Readiness & Strategic Fit Objectives of the Bootcamp are to refine financial and operational readiness, tailor value propositions, and prepare for international scaling with expert guidance. As part of the Bootcamp, selected start-ups and scale-ups will participate in workshops focusing on: Partner Selection & Collaboration Models, Value Proposition Design for Market Fit, Market Prioritisation & Regulatory Landscape Mapping, Scaling Internally: Org Readiness, Governance & Hiring for Expansion, Localization Strategy: Messaging, Pricing, and Channel Fit, Navigating Public Funding Rules, Market Specific Go-To-Market Strategies, Investor & Corporate Pitching, Securing Pilots & Financial Roadmapping, Intellectual Property. Participants will have the chance to receive personalized insights from leading experts and take part in peer-to-peer feedback sessions. Bootcamp 2 (online): Market Execution & Growth Roadmap This hands-on bootcamp is all about execution. Dive deep into market strategy, Go-To-Market plan, and unlock the power of EIT’s Knowledge Triangle through personalised mentoring. Across three focused days, Participants will shape a tailored roadmap for international expansion — with expert guidance, strategic insights, and actionable next steps to help you scale with confidence. Matchmaking (online): Successful & Efficient Expansion Objective of the Matchmaking is to enable high-impact connections between start-ups and key ecosystem players in selected EU markets as well as to gain direct feedback on selected solutions, explore partnership potential, and chart the path to successful market entry. Specific areas and topics may be slightly adjusted based on participants' needs indicated during the application stage; any changes will be duly reported by the project management team. Useful links: EIT Regional Innovation Booster - PowerPoint Presentation Application platform: Regional Innovation Booster - EIT Regional Innovation Scheme Application form: EIT Regional Innovation Booster (EIT RIB) Terms & Conditions: EIT-Regional-Innovation-Booster_2025_Polish-edition_Terms-and-Conditions.pdf

Beneficiary & submission

I. Application procedure The application will be made through the EIT Application Form. Proposal submission deadline is set for 21 September 2025, 16.00 CET. In order to avoid disappointment, we strongly advise applicants to familiarise themselves with EIT Application Form before beginning their application, and to begin the application process at least 24 hours in advance of the deadline. All applications for the programme must be completed as follows: a. Applicants must fill in all required information tabs in the application form. b. Incomplete submissions or submissions via any other means (e.g. email) will be rejected. c. Proposals must be submitted before the deadline; all late applications will be rejected. d. The application must be within the scope of the main challenges: Place-based transformations that ground climate action at the local level powered by Climate KIC. We seek solutions to plan, map, analyse, engage, design, test and invest in a portfolio of solutions in cities, bioregions and value chains. More details are accessible here: https://www.climate-kic.org/ Digital Tech, Digital Cities, Digital Industry, Digital Wellbeing, and Digital Finance powered by EIT Digital. EIT Digital invests in strategic areas to accelerate the market uptake and scaling of research based digital technologies (deep tech) focusing on Europe’s key societal challenges. More details are accessible here: https://www.eitdigital.eu/ Food & Agritech powered by EIT Food: optimising resource efficiency and environmental sustainability of agriculture supply, primary production, processing, storing, packaging, logistics/distribution, retail, consumer research, nutrition monitoring, and food service; developing nutritionally customised food products, addressing unmet needs and generating consumer relevant functionalities; building trust in the food system, securing traceability and auditability of food quality, safety, and authenticity, combining digital and sensor technologies to acquire and transmit information through the food value chain. In general – the development of solutions that will put new products on the market, introduce new and improved commercial processes and services, and achieve: Healthier Lives Through Food, A Net Zero Food System, and A Fully Transparent, Fair, and Resilient Food System. More details are accessible here: https://eitfood.eu Healthcare powered by EIT Health: New models to deliver healthcare; Facilitating the uptake of digital medical devices in Europe; Harnessing the full potential of health data for innovation; Supporting the deployment of Important Project of Common European Interest in Health (IPCEI) to address market failures. More details are accessible here: https://eithealth.eu/who-we-are/our-focus-areas/ Energy and Renewables powered by InnoEnergy: energy costs reduction, system performance increase, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decrease, circular economy (particularly in the context of energy usage), green hydrogen, solar energy, energy management systems, energy usage of waste, recycling related energy sector, new solutions to energy-heavy industries that optimise energy usage or change its sources to more sustainable and energy storage. Any other innovative approaches that are based on sustainable energy generation, storage, or usage are welcome. More information is here: https://www.innoenergy.com/ Metals, minerals, industrial side streams powered by EIT RawMaterials: Technologies and solutions for improved and new mineral exploration; Digital solutions for remote monitoring, analytics, sensing, modelling, digital twins, etc.; Advanced and fully integrated exploration – smart targeting of ore deposits; Technologies and solutions for more efficient, safer and sustainable modern mining; Technologies and solutions for mineral and metal processing and for improved materials production; Improving processing efficiency by reducing resource use and/or emissions and CO2-footprint; Technology that address equipment-damage problems such as wall thinning, creep or corrosion; Technologies and solutions for materials supply from secondary sources and recycling; Cost-efficient and clever collection, dismantling and sorting of waste; Turning waste resources into a valuable raw materials feedstock for EU industries; New technologies, materials or services that make it possible to substitute or use lower quantities of critical or toxic materials in key industries; Solutions and business models implementing circular economy concepts; Design of products for recycling and lifetime extension; Resource efficient design of materials; Innovation to improve traceability, sustainability, and transparency across raw materials value chains. More details are accessible here: https://eitrawmaterials.eu/ Urban Mobility powered by EIT Urban Mobility: Active Mobility (walking and cycling), Sustainable City Logistics (delivery, waste management, circular freight, logistics infrastructures, shared logistics, etc.) , Future Mobility (traffic management, waterborne mobility, shared mobility, urban air mobility, etc.), Mobility and Energy (electrification, hydrogen for mobility, battery tech and circularity, net-zero e-fuels, etc.), and Transport Infrastructure, (intermodality, autonomous public transport, demand-responsive transport, smart parking, etc.) are the main focus areas. This is not a closed list, any idea/solution to solving city challenges is welcome. More details are accessible here: About us - EIT Urban mobility e. Additional information, such as a weblink to the project, can be uploaded to support your application. These additional documents are not mandatory, and please be aware that if you do not explicitly refer to such documents in your application, the reviewers may not consider these attachments as the basis for their evaluation. f. Multiple submissions are not accepted. Each applicant must use a unique email address for submission. g. Individuals, co-founders, and project team members are not eligible to be part of more than one submitted project at the same time and/or submit more than one project at the same time. II. Selection process overview The selection process for this call will consist of a single proposal submission. To be selected, applications must score at least 70/100 in remote evaluation. Following submission, all applications will undergo an eligibility check. All applications must satisfy the eligibility requirements before proceeding to the next step. Please see the relevant section for the general and specific conditions of the evaluation process. Notifications for all applications will be sent to applicants by email. Eligibility check Entities will be invited to submit an application form, as well as general information on their activity. The minimum requirements for applying, including eligibility criteria, are specified in the previous section. An eligibility check will be performed against the eligibility criteria stated in section 3.1 to validate the application’s compliance with the requirements outlined in this Call. Rejected will receive a notification. Accepted applications will directly move to remote evaluation. Remote evaluation Eligible applications will be evaluated by three external evaluators based on the criteria below (see 4.3 Evaluation Criteria section of the Terms and Conditions). Evaluators are instructed to check for conflict of interest and to inform the EIT, if necessary, before evaluation of the proposal proceeds. A maximum of 100 points will be awarded by each of the three evaluators during the remote evaluation. The final remote evaluation score will be the average of all remote evaluators’ scores. Projects must score at least 70/100 to be conditionally invited to the EIT RIB programme or put on a reserve list. In case there are more applicants scoring above the threshold than available places (12), the ones with higher scores will be conditionally accepted. In case there are many applicants with same scoring earlier date and hour of submission will decide on higher place of the applicant. Participants are strongly advised to consult the official Terms and Conditions for a comprehensive overview of the eligibility criteria. Up to 12 applications with the highest score will be invited to join the EIT RIB programme. A total of twelve startups will be selected: seven will be chosen based on the highest evaluation scores within each of the seven thematic areas outlined in the call documents (one per area), and an additional five will be selected purely based on the highest overall scores, regardless of thematic area. The list of selected entities will be published no later than October 6th. To be formally accepted, participants will need to provide a signed Concept note to participate in the programme.

Further information

Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 12 May 2025 by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Poland, both institutions will jointly provide resources for the implementation of the EIT Regional Innovation Booster in Poland. Description of EIT RIB The EIT Regional Innovation Booster (EIT RIB) is a new flagship initiative of European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), designed to tackle Europe’s innovation unbalance by boosting innovation ecosystems in emerging and moderate innovator regions. Building on the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe’s Innovative Europe Pillar and aligned with the EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda 2021 2027, the EIT RIB leverages the EIT’s pan-European network and its Knowledge Triangle model to provide tailored, integrated, and place-based innovation support. EIT RIB specifically targets start-ups and scale-ups in less-developed regions—those performing below the EU average in terms of innovation ecosystem maturity, as identified by the European Innovation Scoreboard. The initiative, based on a place-based approach, aims to simplify and streamline the start up and scale-up support landscape by connecting national, regional, and EU-level initiatives into a cohesive entrepreneurial support pathway. Implementation is led by the EIT Community Strategic Regional Innovations (SRI) Cluster, ensuring alignment with regional priorities, especially Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3), and promoting long-term ecosystem capacity-building. The EIT RIB aims to: Enable the international growth of deep-tech start-ups and ventures from moderate and emerging innovator regions. Create a seamless support pathway across local, national, and EU levels to help high-potential start-ups and scale-ups succeed in national and international markets. Strengthen collaboration between EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) and local innovation actors and instruments. Boost innovation output and visibility of emerging ecosystems within European networks. Provide targeted funding, mentoring, and strategic resources to selected ventures. Promote synergies, best practice sharing, and efficiency gains across the EIT Community and national authorities. The EIT Regional Innovation Booster 2025 – Polish Edition - is the first initiative of this kind globally. The programme, as a pre-pilot, is held in cooperation with of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). It is exclusively available to Polish start-ups and scale-ups at TRL 7 or higher. “Polish start-up or scale-up” refers to a company that, prior to the launch of this call, is legally registered with its headquarters in Poland and maintains active business operations within the country. Start-ups and scale-ups can submit their applications in one of the industry-specific categories, each supported by a different EIT Knowledge and Innovation Community (EIT KIC): Climate Digital Food & Agritech Healthcare Energy and Renewables Metals, minerals, industrial side streams Urban Mobility Structure of EIT RIB 2025 – Polish edition The EIT Regional Innovation Booster programme in Poland in 2025 (the programme) will be organised in three stages; however, this call for proposal is dedicated to the Stage 1 only. The Calls for Stage 2 and Stage 3 will be open only for participants of the Stage 1. At the end of this stage, the start-ups and scale ups will be invited to apply for the second stage of the EIT Regional Innovation Booster 2025 – Polish Edition - to obtain additional funding from the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology for internationalisation. Please note that the additional funding will be considered as state aid and delivered via de minimis scheme. In later stages, start-ups and scale-ups may also receive further support services from the EIT Community.